Dark Horizon
by Galasdorin
Summary: Isaac Black was a war veteran who served in the Reaper Wars. Haunted by his past, he tries to escape it only to find himself thrust right back into the very hell he had spent five years avoiding. MirandaXOC romance/action/humor with lots of angst and more OC's. Rated M for coarse language, violence, and sexual themes.
1. Ordinary

_A/N -_

_If you clicked here, then thank you. I know it seems odd to say thank you already, but I'm going to do it for the hell of it. This ff is different from others, to say the least. Lets take the main character for example. No, this isn't centered around Shepard, and while this may disappoint some, I encourage you to keep reading! _

_Thank you again for taking the time to check this story out, and whether you're here by accident, or whether you're looking for a good read, I assure you this story (at least in my mind!) won't disappoint you. I'm going to keep these notes short so as to prevent boredom from reading all of this, but hey, thanks again. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the story!_

* * *

Isaac Black was anything but an ordinary civilian, and anyone who thought or called him otherwise was bound to receive a few broken bones or a bloody nose.

People who met him and spoke with him all considered him part of the 'ordinary' group, of course, but they never truly saw behind the mask and the great walls of painful memories that he had set up to hide his true past.

Isaac Black was a war veteran.

Not only that, but he had served in the Reaper Wars, of every war he could have possibly have been in. He saw things most other soldiers hadn't. Of course, all premise of the other wars had been lost and forgotten while the entire Galaxy united to stop the Reapers.

Those memories scarred him, haunted him and tormented him. Not a night went by where he didn't see those horrific visions, watching one of his squad mates slowly go through the process of indoctrination over time, another captured by the Reapers and turned into a husk before his very eyes.

They were what defined who he was now—headstrong, reckless, and not afraid to do what needed to be done. He certainly wasn't the best solider, or the best diplomat for that matter. In fact, he had quite a reputation in the Alliance (For those who remembered his service) for playing loosely by the rules.

He had tried to escape it all, those memories and visions, those traumatic experiences. After the war, he had resigned. Partially because his leg was shredded by flaming shrapnel in an explosion afterward, and partly because he suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

They had done what they could for his right leg, and for the most part, it was healed, but there were a few things they couldn't fix. It didn't hurt necessarily to walk on it—just gave him a small limp. Which, in his mind, was a grim testament to the memories he had of the war. He had tried to escape from it, to bury these thoughts deep within his mind, but every time he glanced down at his leg and saw the scars, he remembered it all. Every last memory, every vision, ever soldier who died alongside him. It was horrifying, mortifying, and absolutely life changing.

He had tried to settle down, taking whatever compensation the Alliance gave him to set up a bar on the now repaired Citadel. He ran the small place himself, and even if it wasn't as big as some of the other night clubs, it was a quiet escape, at least for now. Somewhere where he could find solace in at least knowing he was away from the war.

The thought hadn't passed him mind before, but now it did, coming through him like a needle to skin. He had set up a bar on the _Citadel, _the very heart of the Reaper Wars, to escape his memories of them? What the hell was he thinking?

Maybe that was why he still remembered them so well. Every time he glanced around at the fancy blue neon and flashing lights advertising the name _Echo _(the name of his bar) he felt that grim feeling spread across his face, and felt his gut do a sudden flip flop. It made him sick to think of it, so he did a lot of extra work to keep himself from having time to think.

That included breaking up bar fights.

Part of the job as the bartender was to serve your customers, sure, but there was also the part where you 'socialized' with your customers. Isaac wasn't ordinary, and he liked to constantly remind others of this.

Today, it was a fight between a burly krogan, and a batarian who had somehow managed to survive the Wars. They had been hit first, so there were not a lot of them left. And they spent half their time getting killed in useless fights like this one.

It would be even more embarrassing to find that a human, of all the races, was coming to break them up.

He crossed the main area of the bar now, weaving in and out and between the silver round tables, full of patrons with their eyes turned to glance at the scene unfolding. Some watch his progress toward the scene with a sudden welling interest, hoping he would add to the action.

His face sported a grim frown, the corners of his mouth set hard and firm in their crease, as he walked quickly across the fish tank that was the floor of the main area.

He had installed it as somewhat of a luxury. Occupants could watch the marine life dart right beneath their feet. Sometimes, he would become entranced by the beauty of an angel fish passing by, or by the mighty grace of the lion fish as it swam by.

He had ordered numerous luxuries that would have been otherwise unaffordable just to keep his mind off of things. And they had worked, at least for now.

They helped to ease the pain, he liked to think. Distracting yourself with other things was the number one way to rid yourself of sour memories.

"What's going on over here?"

At the sound of his voice, gruff and blunt, all voices ceased. Every last patron was turned toward the scene now, their eyes intent and fiery with a hunger that showed so fiercely, Isaac thought they might get up and join the fight themselves. Fortunately, probably for their better good too, they did not. Smart move for them.

The krogan let his batarian victim go, now turning to face the human who he had assumed was only an ordinary person.

"You got a problem with me, human?"

His hand came up so suddenly, his right fist raised, while his left hand lowered the sleeve to show his bare arm with the scars, and he pulled the leather fingerless glove tight against his hand.

At this notion, the crowd gave a sudden intake of breath, similar to that of a gasp.

The krogan seemed uninterested in this 'human', and turned back to face his victim, but the batarian was long gone. Smart move.

"Hey! You let him get away!"

Isaac smiled. By every right, he wasn't allowed to attack the krogan first, but if he played this dance around game long enough, this brute was bound to attack him first, signaling that he could engage the krogan with full force.

_Laws, laws. Patience was never one of my virtues._

He hadn't followed laws or regs in the Alliance Military, but now he followed them? It didn't add up.

Then again, neither did the fact that he was an ex-military war veteran who established a bar on the Citadel to escape his memories of the war.

"_I _did nothing, save from stopping you from harassing one of my patrons. Now then, are you going to leave quietly, or do I have to take you down hard?"

Fuck it. He would go for it. So what if he ended up in the C-Sec office the next day? He wasn't about to take bullshit from anybody, not even a krogan.

The krogan emitted a low growl, or something along the lines of that (it was more of a drunk gurgling noise).

The krogan seemed to be taking measure of Isaac, studying him closely. Thin and shaven black hair, neatly shaven facial hair, and emerald eyes alive with a fire so vibrant and powerful that it even made the brute shudder to hold them for too long.

"What's it gonna be then?"

He spoke again with a grim and determined voice, to add to his intimidation factor. He wasn't about to back down now. It was probably too late to do that anyway.

The krogan met his eyes again, once more staring into them intently with a hunger and pure blood rage that was so visible in the krogan race, before taking his eyes off of the human.

One second, things had been quiet.

The next, the krogan had charged.

Bad move.

His hand came up, on an intercept trajectory directly with the krogans face. That was the issues with too much power, not enough smarts. You had the raw power and strength, but you lacked the judgment and skill of a trained war veteran.

His gloved fist (the end with the metal studs) met the krogan head on his charge. The brute stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the human who had somehow thrown a punch at him first.

A gasp escaped from the crowd, but Isaac ignored it. Atmosphere made the adrenaline that now coursed through his veins feel so much better as it caressed his heart, washing over it like a tidal wave.

"You. . .hit me."

"Yes. And I'm going to do it again."

A grim smile spread across his features as his fist came up again, this time ready for an uppercut that would knock the brute out for now.

The krogan had other plans. Blood now trickled from his nose, where Isaac had hit him the first time. And he would have wounded him again, but the krogan wasn't an idiot. He knew when to back down.

"Wait! You win, you win! I'll go quietly!" the brute pleaded, cowering and covering his face with his bulky and massive arms.

Isaac stopped his next hit mid air, smiling even wider now.

"Good. Now please get the fuck out of my bar."

The krogan didn't need to be told twice, he left in a hurry, leaving a satisfied Isaac and a cheering crowd behind.

He crossed the main area once more, ignoring the applause and whoops of joy.

To him, this was his daily routine.

To him, this was his life.


	2. Infiltration

_A/N -_

_Well, you survived the first chapter._

_Get ready for some laughs. I know that, from showing this chapter to others, that they haven't come away without a single smirk on their faces. It's got a nice touch of humor, and a certain familiar character who I think you all love well. If you've enjoyed the story so far, keep reading! It gets better! As I said with the first note, I'm going to keep these short and dried. I don't want to bore you all having to read fifty paragraphs of notes. :-)_

* * *

Isaac didn't sleep like everyone else did. To say that he even 'slept' at all was like putting him into the ordinary category.

It didn't happen.

Some people—hell, most people—looked forward to laying down for rest after a long night of work, especially in the line Isaac worked. He worked the day shifts, and his partner Matt worked the night shifts. He should have taken the night shifts.

It would be much easier for him to stay up all night at his bar, running the place, instead of back in his small apartment where it was quiet and lonely.

He wasn't 'lonely', it was just a matter of he was so used to working the bar that he became accustomed to the loud shouting and conversations of his patrons.

Here in this small domicile, there was no krogan and batarian bar fights to break up. There were no patrons waiting at circular silver tables eagerly awaiting drinks, there were no fish casually swimming by underneath his black leather boots.

No. There was only him, his bed, and whatever annoying tune the sound system was sporting. If it was sporting anything.

Often times, he came into the apartment and it auto-activated on him, but the annoyed man had finally figured out how to avoid tripping it as he walked in. This just involved a bit more. . .maneuvering.

It was too much, and far too late at night now, to ask the techs to come and disable it. Perhaps he would do that tomorrow.

This was how his nights were usually spent. Alone. Silent. Too much time to think about things.

He crossed the room now, his leather boots sinking deep into the soft plush carpet that formed the living area of his small dwelling.

It wasn't really small, though, because he still had enough credits left over from the war to get decent housing. Not only that, but it was pretty cozy too.

He had crossed the living area now, and he stopped to remove his shoes, flexing his tired feet into the soft carpet tiredly. For once, he was looking forward to sleep. For once, Isaac Black felt tired.

Never before had he felt this sudden exhaustion, this sudden welling of fatigue from within. He hadn't felt it before, and that annoyed him.

In fact, it was starting to piss him off.

Slowly though, not like the rage a krogan gained so fast. It was like the fires were roasting him carefully, cooking him all the way through before they set him on a plate for some dinner.

The comparison was somewhat gruesome to think about, and he stopped after thinking of being roasted over a fire. Shaking his head, he moved forward into the small bathroom, complete with an automatic shower that activated at voice command. You chose the speed of the water, the temperature, and what jets you wanted activated, and booyah. You could either be blasted from behind with ice cold water, blasted from the front, or blasted from the right and left. If you really felt like being crazy, you could take the full force of all four jets.

Isaac rarely took a shower, but tonight was an exception. Tonight, he felt a film had covered him during the day, a thick film that coated him now, and he needed to wash it off. This 'film' was actually just his fatigue, but Isaac was so unaccustomed to feeling such things that he didn't know what to expect.

The shower was relatively quick, and he emerged some time later to crisp and cool air. At least the AC was still working.

Something was off. He could tell right away.

He didn't need to leave the bathroom to know that, but some part of him - the reckless part - clothed himself in a simple towel around his waist and left the small bathroom.

As he had expected, something was different. Somehow, somewhere, something had changed. And it was roasting him again to not know what.

Contrary to what he had believed would help him rid himself of his fatigue, the shower had only made him long for sleep now much more than before.

_Damn showers._

Still, he couldn't blame it. The hot water had felt nice while it had lasted, at least.

And at least he wasn't stuck with a C class apartment like others. His apartment may not have been the most luxurious, but it wasn't as bad as the others that he had seen.

Christ, at least he wasn't stuck with cold water showers and a one room apartment.

The bedroom wasn't exactly another room. A small staircase led up from the main living area to where his bedroom was. A simple door that slid automatically open at the smallest touch of his feet on the doorstep was all that marked the living area from his bedroom.

But he wasn't interested in sleep yet, not until he found out what had changed.

His emerald gaze danced across the living area now, scanning the lower area which was tiled to allow for dancing, which he would never do, and the bar, which overlooked the lowered dance floor.

Nothing was out of the ordinary there.

Then what the hell was wrong with this place?

It was like a bug that buried in deep, and didn't come out. You knew it was there, but you didn't know where it was.

And perhaps that was what made him finally give up and head up the stairs to his bedroom.

Not bothering to retrieve his clothes from the bathroom downstairs (he was too tired to trek back down for them) he changed into a simple pair of boxers, leaving the towel laying on the bed stand.

And then he saw it. What had changed.

Someone had placed something on his bed side. It wasn't anything discreet, either. Whoever had put it there had meant for it to be something that would jerk him around.

Sitting there directly on his night stand were his dog tags, fresh and polished and sported in a red velvet stand that seemed to torment him so fiercely.

His emerald eyes came alive with a fire that he hadn't seen since that fight earlier today. Who the fuck had put these here? More importantly, were they still here?

His hand came up a moment later, his right hand swung, knocking the dog tags from the night stand, sending them sailing across the room, across his bed, and into the wall in a collision course that ended with the satisfying crunch of the plastic stand as the dog tags were thrown from them.

His hand ached with pain from the swing, but he ignored it now, leaning on the night stand as he tried to gather his thoughts.

_Who the fuck is playing games with me?_

Something made him turn around. Perhaps it was the slight intake of breath, or perhaps it was the sudden temperature rise in the room that only came when another body was nearby.

He wailed so quickly, turning, still half naked, to face whoever was there, but he didn't see them; at least not at first.

A moments careful speculation revealed a hidden form, blending against the décor of his room.

"Cloak off. Now."

His voice commanded attention the way the military leaders usually did. A trait he had picked up from fighting that war.

A few seconds later, the form was revealed to him. She was a beautiful woman, and wore a black cloak that even covered her face. From what he could see of her, she had dark colored eyes, and a strange purple marking that extended from her lip downward. She had a slender body, with a –

He focused his thoughts again quickly. There was no time to think about idle flirtations.

If she noticed the notion, the woman ignored it, smiling a thin smile at him.

"Shame. I was hoping you'd do some crunches. I need some good footage."

Isaac wasn't sure to think of what she had said. Was she playing games with him? Was she trying to seduce him?

"Look, I'm tired and I have to work tomorrow. What the fuck do you want?" he said in a tired tone, showing some of that fire within his eyes again.

As a side note, he added "And make it quick." to make certain she knew he wasn't playing around.

Her hands went to her hips almost immediately, her face still sporting that casual grin. God, it made him so damn _angry _to see her smile at him like that. She was toying with him.

"My my. They told me you'd be feisty, but I never expected anything like this."

He almost never wanted to sleep, and the one day he did there was a woman tormenting him. Served him right for wishing for sleep.

"You didn't answer my question. What the _fuck _do you want?" he repeated again, his hand creasing his forehead to massage the throbbing headache that was coming on.

The woman seemed to cringe as the word _fuck _slipped between his lips. She didn't seem to like cussing. Even better.

"What I'm here for, Isaac, is _you._"

_Me? What could she want with me?_

"So you infiltrated my apartment to tell me this. . .why?" he asked, irritation clear in his voice.

The woman laughed at this, raising her hand to her face to cover the childish grin that was spreading there.

"I was sent here on a job, so yes. It's not often you find a job that offers over 100,000 credits. This was for high pay, you know. And I succeeded."

That was it. He couldn't take it anymore. No more tormenting. But, ironically, his fists stayed at his sides. He contemplated it, and decided if she was a male, she would be broken and laying in the gutters somewhere by now.

"So what do you want with me? And how do you know my name?"

Once more, she laughed. A sound that made his headache suddenly feel worse.

"Come on. The man who fought a krogan head on? The owner of Echo? A better question is who _doesn't _know your name, Isaac." the woman said, once more skirting around his main question.

"Look-" he began, but was cut off.

The woman raised her hands, laughing and smiling again.

"I know, you're tired and you only want to sleep. I get that." she said.

Isaac would have hit her by now, but his sub-consciousness decided against wailing on this woman. At least until she told him what she needed him for.

"Just cut to the chase then." he said, the once fiery and hot headed man now conceding his rage to let this woman speak.

She seemed to approve of this, and nodded curtly to him.

"Right. Kasumi Goto. It's a pleasure, Mr. Black." she said, extending a gloved hand to him.

He glanced down at her hand, and thought of touching it, of shaking her hand, but some thought told him otherwise, that she might pull him close and try to seduce him still. Her. . .charms. . .were making it very hard to focus on what she was trying to tell him.

"Ok. . .so you know my name. What do you want with me then, Ms. Goto?" he asked, repeating the same formalities that she had with his name with hers as a way of mocking her.

If Kasumi noted this in his voice, she must have ignored it, for she moved on now.

"Things are. . .changing, Isaac. The Alliance has been watching you, you know."

_The Alliance? Shit. She's with the military._

"That's just music to my ears. What do they want?" he said, the sarcasm clear in his gruff tone and fiery eyes.

Kasumi seemed to find this somewhat amusing, and she giggled a bit, a sound not as tormenting to him as her earlier laughs.

"I already told you; they want you."

He was about to burst out in outrage, but Kasumi held up her hands.

"Now now, don't get all fiery on me again. Though I wouldn't mind some of that for the camera, if you don't mind."

The look that Isaac gave her, and perhaps his hard silence, made her apologize.

"I was joking! Now, here." she waved an omni-tool in the air, transmitting something to Isaac's own omni-tool, which now glowed with the receiving message.

"Someone wants to meet you here tomorrow, as soon as you can. Just show up, and they can discuss everything with you. I only got paid to infiltrate your apartment." she said, her smile now fading her face.

He checked the coordinates. They were in Apollo's Cafe, in the Presidium Commons.

_Who wants to meet me there?_

He would have flooded her with questions, but she cloaked and disappeared within a moment with one final note to torment him.

"Have a good night, Mr. Black."

He would have thrown something at her, but he didn't know where she was. Now, he just rubbed his forehead and then laid down in the soft bed, the sheet and covers enveloping him like a white shroud. He was so god damn tired.

He would have drifted off to sleep, had she not still been there. She uncloaked moments later, camera in hand.

"You sure you don't want to do some crunches?" she asked, thin smile on her face.

Isaac only sighed, rolling over, falling asleep to the sound of her laughing as she left him to whatever sleep he had left.


	3. Flipped

_A/N -_

_I'm certain you laughed. Or, at least smirked somewhere in the last chapter._

_I know I did. xD_

_Well, things are coming into play now. I don't really want to say anything that will spoil the story for you, but I do encourage you to keep reading! (I always say that. . .)_

* * *

It was early in the morning.

He could tell that from the faint hum of the skycars starting up, some already racing through the sky. Soon, the sky would be filled with them. Those already on the move were smart to take the early morning traffic versus every other hour. It just showed it paid to get up early.

Isaac was an early riser too. That was partially due to his paranoia, and partially due to the fact that last night he could have sworn he had been visited by a very strange but so very dashing woman.

Pulling himself from bed, he dressed in his regular dark colored outfit (they almost all looked the same. Black leather shoes, black leather gloves. Black coat. Maybe a dark green shirt here or a navy blue jacket there) that was so commonplace of his surname. Some people liked to tease him that he changed his name to that to match his personality. Then they proceeded to laugh like idiots afterward.

They wouldn't be laughing anymore after that incident.

He cracked his knuckles against each other, a common routine when he woke up. Sometimes, the pain helped him wake up more. Grabbing a clean outfit of equally dark colored clothing, he took a quick shower, with cold water to wake himself up some more.

After the shower, he shaved quickly, and dressed himself up in the best way he could. Staring at himself in the mirror, his emerald eyes finding their counterpart in that wall of glass, he felt a sudden sense of pride.

He looked good.

There wasn't 'handsome'. Handsome implied romantic interest. Just good.

He shuffled a hand through his short hair, which was shaven close to keep it from getting in his way, was now damp with water from his shower. He never dried his hair, not when it was this short. There was no sense when a little water added to the effect of the hair. Some woman had fawned over him after seeing him in the mornings, but he had never taken these woman up on their offer.

No. There had been only one woman that he had ever remotely loved, and she was gone now.

Along with the other memories of the war.

It was strange to think about those nights, when he had been a young and dashing mercenary, and she had just been so. . .perfect.

Everything about her was perfect. The way her hair covered her face. The way her eyes shone when she met his. The way they had always felt the need to remind themselves that they were both the 'Alpha' type.

His memories flooded over him. Feeling her skin against his. His hand wrapped in hers. A soft gentle touch of lips.

And then he was back, like he had jumped back in time suddenly.

He was a mercenary again, clad in thick leather armor and leaning against the wall of the bar. And she was just. . .sitting there. Somehow, their eyes met. And that was how it all began.

He was rushed back into reality now, jerking forward to catch himself on the bar that was in the living room. God, why had she left him? Had she realized that she was the reason he was like this?

_No. I need to let her go. I need to move on now._

His fist slammed into the fine chocolate wood of the bar, and he felt the pain searing through his arm, but he ignored it. Such was how he operated; pain was only a means to an end.

He regained himself and his thoughts for now, and stood tall and straight, brushing some non existent dust from his shoulder as he took in a sharp intake of breath.

_Time to go find out what they want with me then._

* * *

The Presidium was a beautiful place. Or, would have been beautiful, if one stopped to take the time to examine the views.

Isaac Black had no time for sight seeing and scenery. There was business to be done.

His black leather shoes made a crisp clicking noise as he walked through the Presidium, hands in his jacket pockets as he walked at his brisk pace. Some stopped to stare at him as he passed. Others ignored him and moved on, probably lost in their own business. The ones who ignored him were smart.

_Just keep moving. Seem miniscule in this crowd. They'll ignore you._

His destination was Apollo's Cafe, a fine establishment on the Citadel. He had been there once or twice, though he had always come away with a sour taste in his mouth.

For now, he wasn't here to eat at Apollo's. He was here on strict business.

Perhaps it was the crisp uniform, sporting the golden emblazoned crest of the Alliance that he spotted first. Or perhaps it was something about the way the woman stood, firm and resolute in her posture, hands crossed behind her back, her dark amber eyes scanning the crowd carefully. Her fine brown hair was pulled back into a tight pigtail, and she sported an officers cap so common of the Alliance.

_Figures. They always did like making their people stand out._

He crossed the moving throng of people now, species from all over, to enter to Cafe. You didn't really 'enter' an open air cafe, but still.

She spotted him right away, and her features now sported a firm creased frown. She moved forward, drawing her hands from behind her back yet still retaining that crisp and tall posture he had seen when first spotting her.

"Mr. Black?" she asked, and her voice set him on edge. It was professional. More than that, it was gruff and gravelly, much like his own. He felt a connection to this woman, even if she didn't say anything about her, he knew that she must have faced down something traumatic like he had.

"The one and only." was his reply, and he held out a hand for a shake. She examined his gloved hand for a moment before grasping it in a tight grip and shaking fiercely.

"Alliance Officer Victoria Watts. I was sent here to pass on some information to you. If you would, I have a table ready for us."

The woman retained that same professional cool and calm that he hadn't seen since serving in the military so many years ago. She gestured past her, letting him step through her to their table at the back of the cafe.

"So, what's the news?" he asked, his tone cold, but showing some interest. They had gone to some odd ends to bring him here, and he might as well stay to find out why.

He took the far left seat, sitting himself in a composed posture with his hands crossed and intertwined on the table in front of him as he stared across at her, taking the seat on the far right side of the table.

"The news, Mr. Black, is not good. You're aware of an organization known as Cerberus, yes?" Victoria asked, her tone sharp and crisp, and to the point.

_Cerberus? Shit. . ._

"Yeah. I've had some run ins with them. Why?"

"There are reports that a large force of the remaining Cerberus troops are gathering somewhere. For what, we don't know yet. We do know, however, that trouble is brewing on the horizon. We're assembling a team of some of the best soldiers we've seen in our times. We need you for this crew."

_A crew? Cerberus? They want me to. . .reenlist?_

"I already resigned. The Alliance gave me my compensation bonus and everything." he said, his tone also crisp and sharp, trying to match hers.

"Yes, but we're asking to reinstate you for this. We need you now, Mr. Black." Victoria said, her amber eyes boring invisible lasers into his own emerald eyes.

"I can't say I'm happy about any of this. There has to be more to this than just we're investigating Cerberus." he said, now leaning on his crossed hands, his eyes still intently focused on her.

"Yes. There is more, but we're getting conflicting information. All we have right now is a lead out in the Iera system. Horizon."

"Horizon's a nice place. I've been there before. What's wrong with it now?"

Victoria handed him a datapad that showed pictures of Sanctuary—the Haven set up on Horizon. It hadn't been a 'Haven', in fact. More of a 'Nightmare'. Cerberus had used the refugee's fleeing the war to study Reaper indoctrination. The entire facility had been shut down since then, and no one had dared to go near it again.

"You're aware of Sanctuary's history, right? Well, we have reports that Cerberus operatives arrived at the facility three days ago, and went inside. We have no idea what they are doing in there, but they could have a million ways to escape if we send a full team in there. We need a discreet ground team to go in, and flush them out."

Isaac thought on it for a moment, and decided that his methods weren't always _discreet _but they got the job done.

"Ok. . .so you mentioned others. Who exactly are you putting me with?"

Victoria met his eyes and carefully handed him another datapad. This one showed a sleek white frigate docked, with the words _SSV Normandy _painted on the side of it.

"We're stationing you to the _SSV Normandy SR-2_, under the command of Captain Shepard. You are to coordinate with your Captain and your new crew. Is this understood?"

Isaac thought about it for a moment. Maybe it was the shock of hearing that name. Shepard was a name that everyone knew well around here.

Captain John Shepard, or Commander John Shepard as he had been before the war, was now a high ranking military officer, and a symbol to all the other soldiers. The man had, of course, saved the Galaxy twice. He deserved his reputation.

Isaac had never met Shepard before, but he knew that the man was respectable enough to be trusted. The fact that he was going to be stationed on a ship where Shepard was his Commanding Officer sent adrenaline rushing through him.

"One question: what if I refuse this offer?" Isaac said, playing out the last of his cards.

Victoria flicked her hair back over her head in a way that would have made her seem beautiful, had she not had a look of fierce determination in her eyes. Or perhaps that made her more beautiful.

"Then the Alliance will move on and find someone else. But can you really refuse an offer like this? Think of the benefits, Isaac. Think of the good that you would do."

He thought about it for a long moment.

_Do I want this? It's not the Reaper Wars, but this is what I was trying to avoid. . ._

"Send me the docking coordinates. Tell them I'm coming." he said, and saw a smile spread across Victoria's face as he looked into her eyes so intently.

"Will do, sir. Just so you know, the Alliance is reinstating you. You will be a Staff Lieutenant now." She tapped a few buttons and flicked a few screens on the datapad.

"There. As of now, you are officially reinstated as Staff Lieutenant Isaac Black." she smiled at this, but Isaac stood slowly.

Isaac didn't know if that name sounded like Heaven or Hell to him, but there was no turning back now.

_Off to go meet the savior of the Galaxy then. This just gets better by the second._

* * *

The _SSV Normandy SR-2 _was big.

Bigger than it had been in the datapad pictures. That was to be expected, though.

The breathtaking sight of the ship in dock, and the notion that somewhere inside resided the savior of the Galaxy, made Isaac's pulse race.

He was going back into military life. And so soon after he had quiet. Shit, what had made him do this? What crazy fool notion had caused him to say yes to Victoria?

Isaac walked up the docking bay now, carrying the one footlocker of personal belongings that he needed, as he admired the ship. It was so grand, and it seemed to sit in the dock saying to the other ships there '_I'm better than you in every way_'. This was evident in the way that it had obviously extra spending to afford more luxuries. The crisp and clear crest of the Alliance emblazoned on the front of the ship, the name of it stretched across both sides, and it looked ready and able.

More than that, it looked fresh and new.

Stepping up to the airlock that connected the ship to the Citadel, he coughed to let whatever AI know he was there.

Moments later, a small laser shot out, expanding into a blue beam that shrouded him up and down as a voice chimed in.

"Scanning. Please wait."

Once the scanning was complete (Isaac never blinking once) that same happy voice chimed out the words "Thank you. Welcome aboard, Staff Lieutenant Isaac Black. Please step inside for decontamination."

And the doors slid open with a sliding sound that sent wrenching emotional pain through his gut, but Isaac ignored it for now.

He walked inside, and stood even more resolute now as the doors closed behind him, and the decontamination started. Some minutes later, the airlock finally opened, letting him into the ship's CIC, he assumed.

The ship was in fact new and fresh. Everything about the way it looked made him feel so very small and tiny in something so large, but he felt a place here.

His hands were starting to sweat as he realized he was anticipating the meeting with Captain Shepard.

Someone was there to meet him, of course, but he wasn't expecting her to be an asari.

Or, on that note, a _her_.

On any other day, Isaac would have been shocked to see an asari doorman (doorwoman?) but today he had seen enough surprises. This seemed little compared to the fact that he was now reenlisting.

"You must be. . ."

The asari glanced up from her datapad to meet his eyes. Her own were of the purest ocean blue, and Isaac couldn't help but notice just how beautiful she was.

_Alliance life won't be so bad if this keeps up. _He thought, bringing a small smile to his face as he spoke now.

"Staff Lieutenant Isaac Black, reporting for duty." he said, and held out his free hand to shake with the asari.

She shook it warmly with a gentle touch, smiling at him openly.

"Good to meet you, Staff Lieutenant. Liara T'Soni." she said, her eyes once again captivating the hold of his.

"Thank you, Ms. T'Soni." he said, but Liara held up her free hand.

"Please, just Doctor. Or Liara." she said, and them caught his glance once more, smiling again. He grinned back at her, and then waited for what came next.

Liara seemed busy with the datapad and she flicked a few times and pressed a few things on it.

"Yes, welcome aboard. Captain Shepard is waiting for you in the Conference Room. Please head there asap." her voice droned on, like that of a military officer, but something about Liara didn't quite strike Isaac as 'military'.

"Do I have time to drop off my belongings?" he asked, holding up the footlocker of his stuff.

Liara looked it over before relieving him of it. Isaac let it go with some relief to his tired arms.

"We'll have them delivered to the lower decks. Once your meeting is over, we can decide where you'll be staying."

Isaac nodded curtly, suddenly remembering that he was heading back into his nightmare, before heading to the Conference Room.

Her eyes met his as soon as he entered.

"You." he breathed.

Kasumi Goto sat with an amused look on her face, her hand attempting to cover the wry smirk that creased on her face.

"Mr. Black. A pleasure." she said, her tone full of casual humor.

"Ms. Goto." he replied, nodding curtly to her before taking a seat here. Two others were here. One was a short and hunched over man with an overgrown, in Isaac's perspective of his own facial hair, beard. His head sported a baseball cap. The other person here was a somewhat round man with a darker skin tone and blue eyes not unlike the ones Liara had.

_Good god. Everyone here looks so. . .un-Alliance._

Nobody seemed to be making any conversation until somebody else walked through the door. He was a man of resolute posture, and firm resolve. Isaac knew right away that this was Captain Shepard.

His eyes were that of a deep green, flush against his skin tone which made his eyes stand out more. He sported the casual short and shaven black hair that Isaac did, and had the same clean cut facial hair that Isaac did also.

_Funny how he looks so much like me. _Isaac thought, his eyes never once losing focus on the Captain as he crossed the room.

Captain John Shepard cleared his throat and spoke with his hands behind his back. He was the only one with an Alliance uniform on.

"Welcome aboard, everyone. First off, I'd like to begin with introductions. I know some of us are-" he stopped as Liara entered and took a seat. Isaac caught him glancing at her and giving her a wry smile, to which she returned, but the Captain hid it well and forged onward. "Some of us are already acquainted with each other, but lets go over everything again. Liara, if you would." the Captain said, removing himself from the front to let the asari walk to the front.

"Yes. As the Captain said, some of you may be familiar with each other already. Actually, all of you except for one. So lets welcome Staff Lieutenant Isaac Black into our crew." Liara said, gesturing to the man in dark leather at the end of the table. He smiled carefully.

"It's a pleasure." he said, choosing his words even more carefully.

"This is Ms. Goto. Kasumi Goto." Liara said, gesturing to Kasumi who smiled at Isaac.

"This is Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau. But we all call him Joker here." she said, continuing on as she gestured to the man with the baseball cap.

"You've already met the Captain and me, so this is Lieutenant Steve Crotez. He's our shuttle pilot." the asari said, gesturing toward the man who sat next to Isaac, who was now smiling at him and holding out his hand.

_At least someone has some manners._

He shook Steve's hand fiercely, and then turned back to Shepard, who was now moving to the front again.

"We've all heard trouble is brewing. Nobody is sure what it is yet, so lets keep things quiet until we do." the Captain leaned forward now, his hands laying carefully on the desk in front of him to support himself.

"Cerberus is causing trouble at Sanctuary. Everyone has been briefed on the mission parameters. We all know what we have to do; get in there, find out what they're doing, and get out. We're clear to engage if needed, but this is to be a discreet operation otherwise."

His emerald eyes glanced around the room carefully, seeming to fall dead stop on Isaac's own with a look that meant more than he said before moving on again.

"Are we all clear?" he asked, looking around the room again.

No one asked any questions, and the Shepard stood, clasping his hands together.

"Alright then. Dismissed, everyone. Until we reach Sanctuary, your time is yours. Joker, get us out of here." he said, turning to the Flight Lieutenant who nodded, saluted, then hobbled out of the room.

The rest dismissed quietly, and Isaac followed Kasumi, not sure where else to go.

"Hey! Wait. You never told me why you're here."

She turned to face him, that same casual smile dancing across her lips.

"I'm here because I'm the best there is in infiltration out there." and with that, she turned and left, leaving Isaac alone to run his hand through his hair as he realized this was the start of it all. Once more, he was going to relive those mortifying experiences that he had faced before.


	4. Acquainted

_A/N -_

_This chapter contains some more. . .touching moments._

_I will say that there is in fact a moment toward the end of the chapter that is more. . .Mature. If you want to avoid scarring yourself (It's not too intimate, but the references are) then just skip the last part in Italics, and you'll be fine. Otherwise, forge onward! :-)_

_For now, this is also the end of the content that I have written. I know this may leave some of you eager and waiting for more, but do know that I am writing the fifth chapter as we speak! So, enjoy the last chapter for now, and keep your eyes peeled for the next Chapter updates. ;-)_

* * *

Isaac had settled in fine.

Unsure of where to go for now, he simply found himself a spot in the Crew Decks, in the Starboard Observation Deck.

The quiet was nice. It reminded him of his home, back on the Citadel.

Speaking of home, it caused his thoughts to wander back to Echo.

How was Matt doing? Had he found another partner, or was he working full time shifts now?

_He's a good kid. He'll do fine without me._

His arm lay flat against the glass that separated him from the sea of stars that was space, his head leaning against his arm. His belongings lay around him, making the room feel a little more comfortable.

Granted, he hadn't brought everything (That would have made him feel very homesick), but he had brought enough to make it feel a little like home.

_This __**is**__ home now, remember? _His subconscious chimed in, taunting him once more. Isaac ignored this for now, examining a strange glowing bright cluster of stars in the distance to avoid getting into an all out war in his mind.

He had been so distracted by the view that he didn't see the flashing yellow circle on his terminal, didn't hear the annoying beep beep beep slowly droning away, signaling that he had a new message from someone.

_Huh. Wonder who that is._

Crossing the room to his terminal, he sat down in the soft leather chair, typing in the access code for the terminal.

A message immediately popped up onto the screen. It read:

_Isaac,_

_I know you must be trying to fit in, and I'm glad you and the rest of the crew have gotten along fine._

_How are things with you? Liara tells me you settled down in the Starboard Observation Deck._

_From what Liara tells me, you used to be a military soldier before. I'm interested to get to know you, Isaac. I make a habit of making sure to know all of my crew well. What do you say to a visit to my cabin and we can have a chat? Drinks? Become acquainted? _

_I'll be waiting._

And at the bottom of the message was the fancy electronic signature of Captain John Shepard.

_Holy shit. He invited me up for drinks and talks?_

He wasn't sure what to think, but he was going to take the Captain up on that offer. It would help to ease some of the awkward tension he was feeling about being on the ship.

Grabbing his leather jacket and pulling it on over his customary short sleeved white t-shirt, he checked himself in the small mirror he had brought, before leaving his room to head to Shepard's cabin.

* * *

The doors on the _Normandy _didn't auto-open like the ones he had seen before.

Taking in a deep and shuddering breath, Isaac rapped on the metal door, to which he heard the voice of Captain Shepard respond "Come in."

_Holy shit. I'm actually doing this._

The door opened when he placed his hand on the green area, his omni-tool flashing for a moment before opening to reveal the cabin of Captain Shepard.

If he hadn't been about to walk into Shepard's cabin, he would have been stunned by the views.

A fish tank lined the western wall of the room, elegant and rare fish dancing through the water as they fed on fish flakes, while the eastern side contained an overlook that seemed to have Shepard's personal belongings. Models of space ships and frigates and cruisers of all kinds hung in glass cases, and he could spot a hamster cage too.

_Huh. A hamster cage?_

Shepard was waiting for him down the small staircase, and as Isaac looked around, the man gestured for him to come down, smiling warmly.

When his eyes laid on the Captain, he dropped whatever fool notion he had lost before and saluted immediately, his arm coming up and nearly smacking plain against his forehead.

"Sir." came his simple reply, but Shepard waved a hand as he stepped up the stairs.

"At ease there, Lieutenant. We're not on formalities here."

Isaac seemed to take this as an. . .interesting sign, but he let his arm drop back to his side.

"We're not, sir?" he said, the same formality in his tone.

Shepard laughed at this, placing a rough and calloused hand on his shoulder and shaking the man vigorously.

"You're doing fine, Lieutenant. Try to relax a little."

At Shepard's words, Isaac took in a sharp intake of breath, before speaking.

"Ok then. . .Captain. Is there anything you wanted to discuss?"

Shepard smiled at him, seeing the tension relieved from him, at least for now.

"I wasn't clear in my message? This is just personal talk. Getting to know my XO."

Isaac cleared his throat at this before moving on, his palms now considerably more sweaty.

"X. . .O.?" he asked, his voice shaky in place of its usual gruff and gravelly tone.

Shepard nodded at this, looking with his emerald eyes into Isaac's own. And Isaac found he could hold that gaze well.

"Yes. That was supposed to be part of your briefing. I'm supposed to stay out of the swing of things. I'm just here as Captain to keep everyone else in check. You'll be leading our ground teams."

Isaac felt his gut do sudden flip flops. They hadn't told him about this.

"Uh.. .sir. . .they never briefed me on that one." he said, his voice still remaining shaky.

Shepard seemed intrigued momentarily by this before he moved on, turning and walking back down the stairs and signaling for Isaac to follow.

Isaac took a few shaky steps now, passing the fish tank and feeling the cool moisture on his skin. It felt good.

"They never told you, huh?" the man asked, sitting down on his bed. Isaac took a place on the couch, crossing his legs and staring directly into the face of the Savior of the Galaxy. It was odd that, out of everyone Isaac had met, he could hold this man's gaze the most.

"No. I was only informed that we were to coordinate." he said, repeating what Victoria had told him in Apollo's Cafe.

Shepard shook his head before moving on. "Well, you know now. Sorry to be the bucket of cold water, I just thought they had told you already." he gazed into Isaac's eyes, and much to the respect of his words, he saw some pain in them. This man held his words in truth and respect.

"It's fine. I'm more not used to fitting in on a ship with so many. . .un-Alliance types." Isaac said, voicing his thoughts from the Conference Room earlier.

At this notion, Shepard laughed. It was funny to hear it. It wasn't a tormenting and taunting laugh, what he was so used to. It was more of a deep and meaningful laugh. His laugh was deep and hearty, and it certainly wasn't aimed at him. At least, he didn't get that impression.

After Shepard regained himself, he looked back to Isaac. "My crew operates. . .outside the Alliance. Most of them aren't even registered soldiers. But I trust all of them with my life." he said, nodding to Isaac quickly "And I'm sure you will too once you get to know them."

Isaac wasn't certain. He didn't trust people very well. He was making a huge diversion to trust even Captain Shepard. It was his own lifestyle reflecting on him that had made him the careful and cautious person he was. He wasn't openly trusting or friendly, but it seemed it had only taken Shepard a meager seconds to crack through the mask that Isaac had made.

"I don't doubt that, Sir. At least, not yet. I've already met Ms. Goto."

At this, Shepard chuckled and nodded again. "Yes, Kasumi tells me she and you had some fun last night."

_Last night? Holy fuck. It's only been one day and my entire life has been flipped around._

His face must have become visibly paler, because Shepard looked somewhat concerned now.

"You alright? I know this must be hard on you."

The thoughts came welling back to him, and it was like he was an open book now. He wanted to reveal everything, every last secret, into this man because he knew that he wouldn't be let down. He wanted to let every last painful memory and tragic death flow from his mouth out into the open silence of the cabin.

Shepard was indeed a stunning individual. The way he had made Isaac want to reveal everything immediately and the way Isaac, who was so normally very cold and distrusting of others, trusted him so plainly and openly from the moment he had met the man. It wasn't just because he was his Captain either. He felt like he had known this man for the five years that had passed since the Reaper Wars had ended. He felt like it wasn't 2192, but in fact 2186 again, and that he was serving under the command of Shepard to help stop the Reapers once and for all.

"Sorry. Just. . .lost in thought. So much has changed in my life since just yesterday." he said, his tone somewhat distant, his memories and thoughts on the verge of bubbling over.

Shepard nodded at this, and moved to stand and place a reassuring hand on Isaac's shoulder now.

"It's alright. We're not doing anything that involves Reapers. At least, I hope not."

_You hope not? Oh god, we might actually run into some?_

"Thank you, sir." Isaac said, standing and looking into the gaze of the man who had he tried to put past him as a way of avoiding the memories of the war. But here he was now. On an Alliance frigate again. Shit, he might as well have just babbled everything about his war life to his Captain. And Isaac knew that Shepard would listen calmly and quietly to every last bit, only providing those solemn words of reassurance that needed to be said every once in a while.

"Is there. . .anything else, sir?" Isaac asked, glancing around and noticing the uncomfortable silence that had fallen over the pair.

"I'm glad we got to meet, Isaac." Shepard said, extending a hand to him.

Isaac took it fiercely, returning the strong grip that signified their friendship, before nodding and smiling.

"The pleasure is mine." he said in a distinct tone, somewhat regaining himself as he walked back to the door of the cabin

"And Isaac?" Shepard asked, causing the man to turn in his tracks to look back at the Captain.

"I can't wait to see you in combat." the Captain said, smiling. "Dossier says you're one hell of a soldier."

Isaac was sure he blushed at this, but he nodded curtly, turning back and muttering a silent "Thank you sir." into the walls before leaving that place that made him feel so. . .open.

* * *

He had been sitting there, just. . .going over there conversation. Too many things had resurfaced, and now he had to deal with them.

He didn't hate the Captain for it. It was nice to meet somebody else who could see behind the great wall of shit that he had set up to cover his true self.

Now, he was unmasked, at least for now. His true personality showed through, though no one else was there. He was still recovering form the shock of how easily he had come to trust his Captain.

_Holy fuck. I'm like. . .the thickest onion out there, and he peeled me in less than five seconds. That hasn't happened since. . .since her._

Once more, his thoughts went back to her. Along with his war memories, she had resurfaced too, bringing memories of their long nights on the Citadel, not doing anything but watching the cars fly past. She always kept on the move. She never stayed in one place for long, and she was always so. . .uptight. Hell, she was a cold ass bitch. But Isaac had loved her. And she had loved him. They may have set up their 'badass' masks, but the moment they had met each other and kicked it off, they both had no trouble seeing behind those masks.

It was awkward to think of Shepard like that and put him into that same category as her. She had been the only one to take the time to get to know him, to learn every last fucked up thing he had to say, to learn what Isaac truly was. But now he had two names to add to that list.

His vision blurred, and he remembered a night long ago, after a long party, when she had met him. He was drunk. Probably said a few nasty things too.

_She approached him in a stunning red dress that, had he not been under the influence of alcohol, would have seemed even more stunning. Or maybe it was the other way around. His mind was too muddled to think what was left from right._

"_My, you look . . stunning." his words flowed from his mouth as he stumbled, letting go of the metal bar he had used for support to turn and face her. Had her eyes always looked so. . Alive?_

"_Mr. Black." she said in her customary tone, smiling warmly at him as she shimmied her dress in a way that nearly made Isaac fall over backwards. God, she really was beautiful._

"_You should. . .should know." he said with some great effort, managing to keep hold of her eyes for now._

"_You should know. . .that I'm drunk." he finished, turning back to the railing to support himself from falling through the floor. At least, he felt like he would. His world was spinning and reeling now, and he felt that she wasn't helping much._

_Her hands went to her hips, and she smiled at him still._

"_I hear things get even better when you're intoxicated." she said, the thin smile replaced by a grin that was so very. . .he was too drunk to find the right words for it._

"_Are you. . .trying to seduce me?" he hiccuped, turning to face her now. She still smiled at him, that wry smirk not removing itself from her face. He became so suddenly aware of a spot in her hair where-_

_She moved forward now, pressing against him. My god, was she wearing perfume?_

_She was really going to desperate measures to seduce him now._

"_Mhhm, you smell. . .so good." he uttered, his words less than intelligible as he was still drunk off his ass. She looked into his eyes, gazing into his very soul, and pulled him into a tight and deep kiss._

"_I've got some free time. Why don't you come back with me?" she said, that wry smile dancing across her oh-so beautiful face before she yanked the collar of his jacket, dragging the drunken man back to wherever she was going to do whatever she wanted to do. Isaac didn't care what, so long as it was with her._

He was jerked back into reality from the voice over the comm.

He hadn't noticed that tears had stained his face, and he wiped these now with his sleeve before turning his full attention to the voice.

". . .ETA about 2 minutes. Shepard wants to see you all in the Conference Room. Better not keep him waiting."

It was Joker, the Flight Lieutenant whom he had met earlier, signifying to Isaac that this had truly begun. Grabbing what he could, checking himself one last time in the mirrors, he headed up to the Conference Room.


	5. Shock

_A/N -_

_Well, here's the next chapter. This one contains some action (Cause I know you've been waiting for it) so it just might keep you on the edge of your seat. Chair. Beanbag. Whatever you happen to be sitting on._

_Anyway, look forward to updates, and I know that since I haven't stated it before, I need to now._

_I am open to feedback! If you spot any grammatical issues, or spelling errors, please notify me so that I can fix them. :-)_

_Your support and feedback helps the story to grow too!  
_

* * *

The 'Conference' had been some last moments of reassurance for the crew.

It had also been to tell everyone that Isaac would be leading the ground team, and that Kasumi and Liara were to go with him.

Now, here he was, standing in the shuttle, his sweaty hands barely holding onto the bar to keep himself up right as he stared at Kasumi, her gaze never leaving his.

Liara was transmitting a signal through her omni-tool back to the Normandy. Though they couldn't hear the conversation coming through, she occasionally spoke back. If Isaac didn't know any better, she seemed to be on a business phone call.

He had thought about disturbing her conversation, thought about reminding her that this was a serious mission, but Kasumi had told him that she was a near unstoppable Biotic. And, as one final note, she had added that Liara was also the Shadow Broker.

Now, standing there in the rocking shuttle as Lieutenant Steven Cortez piloted it into some unknown hell on Horizon, Isaac felt the need to rethink his current mission.

_So, I've got a master thief and infiltrator, and the Shadow Broker on my squad? Glorious._

"What's our status, Lieutenant?" Isaac asked, turning to face Steve, who seemed to be extremely and resolutely focused on delivering them to their destination. With a start, he realized that Steven Cortez was probably the best damn shuttle pilot in the Alliance.

"No activity from within. If they've noticed us, they haven't responded at all. Facility looks. . .dark. Inactive. Take a look."

The shuttle pilot waved his hand across the controls a few times, bringing the facility of Sanctuary up on the visual scanners.

Indeed, the once bright and active facility now seemed dark. There weren't any lights on, and the words _Sanctuary _painted on the outside were dark blue, contrary to their common glowing neon color.

"Huh. It's almost as if there isn't anyone there." Isaac said, half to himself. The others remained quiet as Steve finished the descent.

Liara now seemed to have completed her call, and turned to catch Isaac's glance, giving him a fierce nod.

"Sir, I'll take you in as close as I can, but if I put you too close they might detect us. If the facility is even occupied."

Isaac gave a curt nod to the pilot.

"Good job, Lieutenant. Bring us in close. Drop us and off and then head back to the Normandy."

The shuttle pilot only returned the nod that Isaac had given him, finishing the final phase of the descent.

_This is it. Holy shit._

The door to the shuttle opened, and Isaac jumped out onto the once beautiful planet of Horizon.

First the Collector attack, then Sanctuary, and now Sanctuary might be occupied again? It had to be stopped.

Kasumi came off next, followed by Liara and the closing of the shuttle door as it took off once more.

And it had really and truly begun now.

"We don't need to go over the mission parameters again. Cerberus is somewhere inside. Get in, get them out, and then leave ourselves. And maybe we'll find out what the hell they're doing here." Isaac said, pulling the standard issue Katana shotgun he had been issued as a primary weapon.

A Phaeston assault rifle laid across his back, and a Locust SMG was at his hip. He looked, in all retrospect, like one hell of a soldier.

"Didn't you just say we weren't going over the mission parameters again?" Kasumi chimed in, her voice dancing lightly like a spring breezy wind, laced with the casual and cocky humor that was her nature.

"Look. I. . .don't need this. Pretend like just two days ago I was a simple bartender."

Kasumi shrugged at Isaac's comment, and decided to 'pretend' for a moment that he was. Though, if she had anything to add after that, she said nothing more as the group advanced forward, Isaac leading them.

Sanctuary was a beautiful place. Perhaps it was built that way to mask its true purpose. Water fell lightly, echoing in shallow streams that lined the walkway leading to Sanctuary. If Isaac hadn't heard the stories about it being a fraud, he could see that it would be easy to fall for appearances.

The trio advanced forward, now stepping inside the facility to the fresh leather smell that came with new furnishings.

With a start, Isaac realized something, and he lowered his shotgun to check on it. Moving forward, he stopped in front of a black leather couch that was here, complete with full entertainment center and plasma TV, but he ignored these for now. His finger traced a fine line over the smooth leather of the couch, and he turned back to face Liara and Kasumi.

"No dust. This place has been abandoned for too long for there not to be dust on these furnishings. Someone moved these here recently." he said, and then glancing around at the other furniture which looked as fresh and as perfectly new as the couch, he added "Very recently. Keep your eyes peeled."

He pressed onward, his shotgun raised and ready, his hands shaking with their sweat, finding it difficult to keep his grip on the powerful weapon in his hands.

The first notion had been the furniture, now there was another notion. Data pads. They lay across a desk here, in unorganized stacks and piles. Picking one of them up, he read over it, and seeming to find nothing, ignored it. He would have advanced, but Liara picked one up, scanning it over before handing it to Isaac.

"This one mentions something about a project. And look at the date; it's only three days ago."

"That's when the shuttles got here. Damn it. Alright, keep low until we know for sure that they're here." Isaac said, handing the pad back to Liara.

Liara gave a curt nod, transferring the data from the pad onto her omni-tool and following Isaac, her own pistol not matching the power of his shotgun, but still providing enough side cover for the XO.

"I just saw something ahead." Kasumi's voice broke the silence almost immediately after they advanced into the next room, which was quite large compared to the others. Probably a docking area, or customs office.

"What was it?" Isaac breathed, his voice barely loud enough to hear over his pounding heart.

"A flash of movement. Something fell over." she reported, remembering seeing whatever she had seen. Isaac nodded at this, and signaled for the two behind him to spread out and check the room for any signs of life or information.

Isaac kept his eyes focused ahead, on where Kasumi had said she had seen the movement.

And when it came rushing directly for him, he wasn't ready. His hands became suddenly very clammy as some brute beast rushed out from the room ahead. It wore Cerberus armor, sure, but there were visible patches where skin had broken through, where a muscular arm had shattered the armor that surrounded it. To sum it up plainly, the beast looked like shit.

And it was charging right for Isaac, uttering a gut wrenching roar as it approached.

Isaac did the first thing that came to his mind. He fired. Once. Twice. Three, four, five. He fired until every last bullet in the current thermal clip had been used.

The creature stopped at the first of the bullets. Then it seemed to ponder something as another one hit, and then a third, shattering its armor around its chest and revealing the way to a soft spot for the fourth spray of bullets, which hit dead on and sent the brute staggering backwards in pain, uttering that same roar.

Isaac didn't need to fire again. He had fired so fast and so quickly that the creature would have no time to react. His hands held the shotgun in them with a shaky grip, the sweat glistening on them as he stared down the barrel of the shotgun as the beast gave one last roar before collapsing, its chest ripped open by the impact of the shotgun.

Kasumi and Liara were behind him, and now he felt a hand on his shoulder. Most likely Liara.

"It's alright. It's dead now." she said, her voice so calm and gentle to Isaac's rattled mind. Perhaps it was the pure shock that he had just killed someone (or something) or maybe it was the fact that he needed the reassurance from Liara to move on. He stood for a while, only holding the gun up, still shaking. His PTSD hadn't made it easy to deal with the killing either, but he knew he couldn't lose his focus now. He needed to make sure the mission was completed, no matter how shaken he was.

His body movements somewhat betraying his mask of resolute calm, Isaac moved forward to inspect the corpse. It was mangled, sure, but he needed to see if it really was Cerberus.

As he did this, he signaled for the two of them to continue scouring the place for any other signs that might help them figure out why Cerberus was here. If this was even Cerberus.

The corpse was shredded through the middle, probably from the excess of bullets that had ripped through the skin. But he could clearly spot the Cerberus logo emblazoned on the armor that now seemed so small on something so big.

"Isaac, I found something." Liara said, shouting to him from across the room and jarring him from his thoughts. He turned to face her, and the asari motioned for him to come. Giving one last shaky glance at the body of the beast, he walked carefully and steadily across the room, stopping next to Liara, who was typing something into a terminal.

"What did you find?" he asked, his tone somewhat faltering as he was _still _recovering from the shock.

Liara gave him a look so quiet and so gentle, that he thought she might have been trying to read his mind. She could tell he was shaken from this, but there was no turning back now.

"Audio logs. Visuals. Data. Locations, coordinates. We have everything we need right here on this terminal."

She brought up a few logs on the screen, and it seemed that this terminal sufficed as a database for all of the information recorded here.

"Grab what you can and lets get out-" he was cutoff by Kasumi's voice so suddenly.

"Isaac! We've got more incoming!" she yelled, firing a few shots from her SMG. Much to her words truth, a few more of the staggering brutes were sauntering their way through the doors.

Isaac turned to the entrance that they had come in from, but he saw more of the creatures coming in through that way too.

_Damn it. We're surrounded._

"Kasumi! You and I cover Liara while she grabs the data, then we all hightail it out of here!" he barked his orders in a gruff and gravelly tone that felt good to hear again, considering moments ago he had been shaking visibly at the death of one of these creatures. Now they faced a good fifteen of them, and he didn't lose his calm. To him, it was a sign that he was changing back into the military soldier he was before. It felt good.

Adrenaline coursed through him as he glanced back once to Liara, who nodded fiercely and began typing almost immediately, downloading all the data she could. Isaac moved to regroup with Kasumi, but he was cutoff by one of the brutes. Fortunately, he had picked up a tactic the first time. Shoot the chest until the armor shattered, and then unload. Unfortunately, his tactic left him open to an attack from behind. He didn't see it coming, never saw the swing of the arm, never saw it mid swing, ready to blind side him.

"Isaac, look out!" it was Liara now, and she was done with the upload. She had finished so quickly that she had enough time to flare her Biotics and throw a Statis down on the creature to slow it down, to prevent it from smashing directly into Isaac.

Fortunately for him, he had been used to moments like this. Wailing so quickly and dodging just in the nick of time, Isaac fired straight into the ugly face of the beast. The beast roared, and sauntered forward and backward before falling over. There wasn't any time to rest, however. Isaac turned now, to face Kasumi.

"Kasumi, lets get-" his voice cutoff as he saw a figure laying on the ground, breathing lightly. Her eyes met his, and there was a look of terror, of sorrow, in them. There was another of those beasts closing in on her.

"Kasumi!"

His voice came out in a guttural battle cry, and he rushed forward, the adrenaline causing the edges of his vision to blur. He saw other creatures around him, but his mind only focused on the figure laying near dead on the ground, a wound in her side as a beast advanced on her. Pulling his assault rifle from his back, Isaac let loose with everything he had. He fired and held the trigger until he felt his hands go numb.

The beast stopped dead in its tracks, seeming to notice the spray of fire that came from another target. Turning its attention from the figure on the ground, the beast now faced Isaac, and charged him head on.

_Alright you ugly son of a bitch. Time to dance._

He dropped everything. Rifle, shotgun, pistol. His omni-tool extended itself, coming out into a large orange blade, sharp and ready.

And then he leaped.

He sailed through the air, directly toward the creature, his omni-blade raised and ready to strike straight into the eyes of this creature.

He met it head on during its charge, remembering the bar fight in which he had faced down a krogan. This was somewhat similar to that, only the loser faced death.

He didn't say anything. The wild look in his emerald eyes was enough to show that he was thoroughly under the effects of adrenaline.

He slashed once, slashed twice, slashed a third time, and kept slashing with the blade until the red liquid smeared every last inch of him. His face, his blade, his armor. They were all coated in it. He let go of his grip on the creature, dropping down to the ground to let the brute face the full pain of his charge.

For one last safe measure, he swung one last time, in an uppercut swing, that tore the flesh on the brutes face even more.

The beast, of course, did not survive. It collapsed a moment later, blood spouting from too many deep lacerations on its face.

Isaac stood, his breath coming in shaky gasps. His ragged breaths.

_In. . .out. In, out. In. . . . .out._

He stumbled back toward his equipment, his leg giving him some trouble, and through the blur of his blood stained vision, he saw the figures of Kasumi and Liara standing over him, calling desperately out to him, reaching for him. But all he could hear were his own breaths.

_In. . .out. In, out. In. . . . . .out._


	6. Reminiscence

_A/N -_

_This chapter is one of my more touching pieces so far in Isaac's story. Do note that there is a little nudity in this chapter, so if you want to avoid that, some of the parts in italics can be avoided. Anyway, here's the next part to Isaac's story for you. And remember, feedback is welcome!_

* * *

He had passed out.

That much was obvious.

The faint hum of lights over him. Bright white lights. Bright. . .white lights?

He was alive. That much was also obvious to him as he took in a deep and shuddering breath, suddenly jerked back from the world of sleep into reality.

He was on a bed. White lights above him. A machine was hooked to the bed, and it gave a soft _beep _with each heartbeat that he felt. A heart monitor. . .

As far as he remembered, he hadn't brought one with him. And he certainly hadn't seen any in the Starboard Observation Deck, which meant he was somewhere else on the ship.

A voice spoke to him as his heart rate increased, the panic setting in quickly and causing his blood pressure to rise.

"Oh! He's awake now."

It was a woman's voice. Crisp, and accented thickly with an English tone, Isaac felt a soft kindness and gentle touch from the woman's voice. She came into view over him now, looking down at him.

The woman had age, and with that age came wisdom. It showed in the faint wrinkles on her face, in her graying hair. And her kindness and gentle nature was clearly visible in the sea of light blue eyes.

"I'm. . .alive?" he sputtered the words like an idiot, and, much to his cringing, she laughed at this.

"Yes, though I'm afraid you won't be pulling any stunts like that again anytime soon." she said, checking something on the monitors that surrounded him and then updating some data on a data pad.

"Stunts. . .?" he sputtered, his breathing returning to normal after the shock wore off. He was safe, at least.

"Yes. Liara tells me you pulled quite the move to save Kasumi. She's fine, by the way."

At the mention of the thief, Isaac tried to sit up, but he found he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"That's a relief to hear." he said, sighing deeply.

The woman nodded again, and smiled down at him in her gentle way.

"I'm Doctor Chakwas, by the way. I don't think we met before."

"It's a pleasure. . .though I wish I had met you under different circumstances." Isaac said, groaning with the searing pain that suddenly shot through his leg.

"Yes, as do I. Now, you're stable and in good health, but I need to run a few more check ups if you don't mind."

Isaac would have shrugged, had he had the maneuvering room to do such a thing. Instead, he only reached a hand up to massage his forehead, realizing he had another massive headache.

"Go ahead." came his simple reply, and Doctor Chakwas nodded, waving an omni-tool over him, comparing data between a few things.

_Modern medicine. Huh._

A few moments later, her voice chimed in again. "There. You're all good now. Your leg shouldn't give you too much trouble now. Just don't pull any insane stunts like that again, and it will heal alright."

_Heal. . .? Something happened to my leg?_

"What happened to my leg, Doc?" Isaac asked, dreading her reply, but the kind woman only shook her head.

"Nothing major. You opened a few wounds and tore some tissue inside. I was able to fix it with relative ease. However, there is something I'd like to discuss with you about your leg."

Isaac nodded, looking up at the doctor now, his hands folded across his chest as he tried to take slow and easy breaths.

"About the surgery?" he asked, to which she nodded.

"The surgeons repaired as much damage as they could. But the Normandy is equipped with the finest state-of-the-art technology. If you would like it, I could heal those scars permanently."

Isaac considered the notion for a few brief moments before nodding slowly.

"Ok. Go ahead." he replied, his tone quiet as he felt a sudden tiredness pass through his body. Most likely a sedative to knock him out. It didn't matter to him now, as he slipped off into the darkness of unconsciousness.

* * *

He awoke carefully, this time not panicking as he did so. The heart monitor gave a resounding _beep beep beep, _measuring his heart rate. It felt odd to hear it, and feel his own heart beating at the same time.

He took in a deep breath, sighing with an incredible effort and moving his right leg a bit. He felt no pain in the first few movements, so he moved it some more, harder this time. No pain, so he tried twisting it around. A little bit of pain, and then a sudden jerk of pain. Ok, so no acrobatic moves, but he could feel it again for the most part.

Doctor Chakwas hadn't been lying when she had said she could fix his leg for good. It was nice to be in control of it again, and he didn't feel the scars there anymore.

Voices, talking, though it was muffled. He heard them at the far end of the room, and now sat up out of his bed, grasping his head carefully.

He had one hell of a headache, but he felt fine other than that. His feet swung over the side of the bed, and he looked into the faces of Captain Shepard, Kasumi Goto, Liara T'Soni, and Doctor Chakwas.

"What?" he asked, yawning and stretching as he detached the wires from himself, standing carefully.

"Uhh. . ." came the reply from Kasumi as Doctor Chakwas stepped forward.

"You should have been out for longer. More importantly, how are you even standing right now?"

Isaac seemed confused by this, but looking from each of them to the next, he saw the same worry and concern on their faces.

"I don't see why not. I feel fantastic." he said, stretching his arms out to his sides, then bringing them close as he did a few more stretches to get the feeling back into his body.

"Yes, but. . ." Liara began, but Doctor Chakwas cut her off.

"Amazing." she breathed. "It's only been two hours, but you've made a full recovery."

Isaac shrugged. "I guess I'm just tough."

"'Tough', and crazy. You nearly got yourself killed trying to save me."

Isaac glanced over to Kasumi, who regarded him with a look that said she owed him.

"Bah. It was nothing. I wasn't about to let you die."

She didn't smile at this, though she nodded curtly and left quietly. Liara turned to look after her, and whispered to Shepard for a moment before leaving too.

"I'm amazed. You retrieved the data we need for this mission, nearly got yourself killed, and made a full recovery again. I'd call that a mission success." the Captain stated, smiling at Isaac.

Isaac would have returned the smile, but he was too busy concentrating on fixing a sore spot on his back, carefully moving his body to stretch the muscles out so that they became used to moving again.

"Yeah. I'd say so too. Though the. . .shock was a bit too much."

Shepard nodded, letting Doctor Chakwas pass by him. She was probably off to run some scans or something.

"Doc says you suffered a lot of trauma. Sorry to throw you into hell again. I know this must be hard on you."

Isaac felt his hand go to his head again, massaging the terrible headaches that were coming on, before shaking it fiercely.

"No. I should have been ready. I thought I was, but when I saw that creature. . .I lost it." his voice faltered toward the end, and he gazed back at Shepard.

"I saw. . .things. Too many things. I'll never forget those memories."

Shepard nodded at this, his voice now considerably lower than before.

"I understand how this must feel. We're all being thrown into the thick of things again."

Isaac nodded, though he wished he had something more to say to the Captain. Instead, he remained in silence.

"Well, I'm sure you have things to do then. At least things better than checking up on your XO." Isaac said, meeting Shepard's smile with his own.

"I was going to call a meeting without you, but now that you're awake, and if you feel up to it, you can attend too." Shepard said, never taking his eyes off of Isaac.

"Sure. I need something to do in the meantime." he said, stretching once more quickly and walking out of the Med Bay; the first time he had ever walked without feeling that limp.

* * *

Shepard had organized a small meeting of the crew to go over the basics of what they had learned. Isaac, Liara, and Kasumi sat patiently waiting at the table for him to come.

The Captain walked into the room, and it was like he commanded a visible respect from everyone. Each of them sat straighter, held their chins up higher when he entered the room.

"We can officially say that our mission was a success."

Silence. They all sat like wide eyed children waiting for the news on what they had discovered.

"Preliminary scans tell us a variety of things. For one, we know what Cerberus was doing there." Shepard pulled up an audio log on the comm buoy, and hit the button to play.

"Our project was a major failure. They took some of us and. . .turned them into those _things._ We haven't heard from the teams deep in the labs. They take us, one by one each day, and I wonder when my turn will come."

Shepard glanced back at the others, and Kasumi spoke now.

"So. . .they were testing on their own guys. What were they testing, though?"

Shepard waved a finger casually through the air. "There's more." he stated simply, playing another audio log.

". . .Took Jenson. I'm the only one left. If anyone finds this, know that this project has been a failure. Project Rebirth is not a success. I repeat, Project-" the voice cut out over the comm, and Shepard turned back to the crew.

It was odd to hear Cerberus proclaim one of their own projects as a failure. The shock of it all was still settling in when Shepard spoke again.

"The other logs are data feeds and visuals. They show us that 'Project Rebirth' was an attempt to recreate synthetic life."

A small frown creased at the corners of Isaac's mouth at this notion.

"They used synthetic tech to do what. . .?" he asked, waiting for the Captain to finish.

"They were using synthetic tech to power up themselves, by fusing it into their own bodies. This caused a reaction that made the synthetic part take over in those who it was fused with, thus the mindless and vicious creatures you met earlier."

"Beserkers." Liara said, and the rest of the group nodded firm reassurance. They needed something to call them, and that title was as good as any.

"Do we have any leads on their other bases or what they are planning next?" Isaac asked, sitting forward.

"No. It's safe to assume that those Beserkers were the last of the Cerberus squad. They may be bulky and mindless, but apparently they know how to turn others into them."

A firm silence spread across the small group at this notion. They had no leads, and there could possibly be an outbreak of a bunch of mindless synthetics that only wanted to destroy all organic life again.

_My god. . .it's like they're Reapers._

"So we have an army of crazy synthetics that want to kill us. Glorious. This sounds like the Reaper Wars again."

Shepard frowned at Isaac's comment, but he went on.

"Yes, we do not have any leads in this area, but the data we picked up and managed to recover tells of a 'Project Infusion'. It mentions something about Subject Zero and Biotic research. Though it's not what we're looking for, this project apparently has close ties with Project Rebirth. Not to mention whatever testing Cerberus is doing for Infusion can't be that good. So, our next move is to head to where the data says the main base for this Project is."

Liara's frown increased at the mention of Subject Zero.

"Subject Zero? That's Jack. What could they be doing with her?" the asari asked, glancing around and only meeting silence.

Once more, Isaac felt the sudden pain that he didn't know who this 'Jack' was. And why they referred to Jack as a _her _for that matter.

"Alright then. It's not a direct lead, but we might find something there that can help us out. Where we headed then?"

"To the Alpha Draconis system. Aeia. This data points the location of the main base for Project Infusion there."

Isaac nodded resolutely. They had something at least.

"If there are no questions, then it's crew dismissed until we get to the Alpha Draconis system." Shepard said, his voice strong and commanding, as usual.

Isaac stood quickly, leaving the others alone. Liara and Kasumi looked after him, but nobody followed him.

* * *

Too much time to think.

He had been swimming in thoughts since the moment he had come back.

_Too much time to think._

He repeated the mantra again, slamming his fist into the desk. It hurt, but pain was only a means to an end.

His vision blurred. Her memories were coming back to him. . .

_There was a fresh smell to the night air of Illium. You never forgot that feeling after staying out at night, watching the sky cars pass overhead. You never forgot the smell, the sounds. . ._

_He was standing there, admiring the view, when she came walking toward him. She wasn't dressed in anything that would make her seem like she was seducing him, nor was he drunk now._

"_Hey." he breathed, almost an inaudible whisper in the night as she leaned on the railing next to him._

"_What are you staring at?" she asked, looking over to him with a wry smirk._

_He felt himself blush, but turned back to the night skies._

"_Just. . .taking it all in. It's so. . .peaceful here at night." he said, his breath coming in with a large intake, trying to memorize the feel of the cold and moist night air on his skin before he had to leave again._

"_What brings you here?" he asked, his eyes casually dancing back over to her. She laughed at this. He had missed hearing that sound._

"_I'm visiting some contacts. They might help me find out what he's up to."_

_Isaac nodded. He knew that she was hunting down any information she could find on her father, but more importantly, he knew that she wanted to do this alone. He hadn't offered to help yet._

"_Well, you're still alive, at least. It's good to see you."_

_Her eyes met his, and there was a moment where their hearts raced, where he was sure it was just them and no one else. A shaky breath and visibly sweaty palms brought him back into reality. His face burned with embarrassment, but he ignored this._

"_That. . .means a lot. It really does, Isaac." she said, trying to meet his gaze, but he skirted her view, refusing to meet her eyes with his current burning face that he was sure was red as hell._

"_It's good to see you alive too. Mercenary work keeps you on your toes." she stated it like she wasn't expecting him to come back from the next job or another._

"_It's not as dangerous as the shit you do. Anyway, it really was great to see you." he said turning to face her. He became so suddenly captivated with her, and he longed to tell her how he really felt, how he really wanted her. But the moment passed, and his breathing lowered easily._

"_Leaving so soon?" she asked, coming a bit closer to him._

"_Yeah. I've got to get back to get some rest. Never know when they might need me again."_

_She moved close enough for him to hold her, and his hands went out almost instinctively, wrapping themselves around her body, pulling her close to him as he breathed the next words._

"_You could come with me though." he said, a whisper in her ear. Her eyes met his, and he leaned down to plant one single kiss on her lips before drawing away from her and walking away. She wasn't about to let him go just like that though. She followed him back to his apartment. That had been one of the more. . .special. . .nights. He had rented the apartment on Illium while he was there, so that he wouldn't be forced to sleep with the incoming refuge's._

_He turned as he entered the small room, not very luxurious, but comfortable. It was home, even if it wasn't as grand as the room he had back on the Citadel._

"_You came." he said, smiling as he watched her walk like an enthralled child after him, stopping in front of him._

"_Of course." she said, her customary no-nonsense tone back._

"_It's getting late. If you're staying. . ." he began, but she pulled herself close to him, felt his arms find their way around her once more, and pull her close to his chest, where her head rested on his beating heart. She didn't feel the tears until they became visible on her face._

_He craned her head up to look at him, wiping her face with his soft fingers and his gentle touch that she was certain only she had seen before._

"_It's alright." he breathed, and for once, she was inclined to believe that statement. Right now, all she wanted was him. And he was here for her, unlike so many others._

_The soft touch of lips on hers made her realize that she did love him. And she was sure he loved her back. But they were two very different people. His hands danced around her body, slowly undressing her as he moved backwards, falling onto the soft bed. She came forward now, unhooking the rest of her dress and removing her clothing as he did the same. But he wasn't about to let her make the first move. No, that was his Alpha nature coming through. Standing from the bed, clothed in only his plain black boxers, he pulled her down with him, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her tightly to him._

"_I love you." he breathed, his voice that same tantalizing whisper in her ear again._

"_I. . .love you too." she breathed back, looking down into his emerald eyes. And she pulled herself close for a deep kiss, their bodies melded against each other in a way that showed their true love. She was here. And more importantly, he wasn't about to let her go._

"_Don't let go. Just hold me." she breathed, her voice sounding like it was about to crack. He planted soft kisses up her neck, trailing his arm and his hand up her body until he locked fingers with hers. God, she was beautiful._

_His hands found their target, removing the lacy black bra that she wore and then slithering over her. His touch on her bare skin felt so good. She craved it. She wanted more of it._

_She leaned forward now, pushing him back from their sitting position onto the bed as she undid the final bits of clothing, and then nearly fell over on top of him._

_Once more, his eyes gazed into hers, and they both felt the moment of their hearts in their mouths._

"_I love you." he breathed again, drawing her close to him as he pulled the blankets over them._

"_Don't ever forget that."_

Once more, he was jerked back into reality to realize she wasn't there with him.

Once more, he felt the wet stain of tears on his cheeks from recalling the memory.

_Have to move on. Have to stay strong. _Came his usual motto almost immediately, but these memories were too much for him. If he didn't see her again soon, find her somewhere, somehow, then he was sure her void that she had left him with would drive him to insanity.

Isaac Black had never been close to anyone. But that one woman had changed his life the moment he had met her, and she had flipped it back upside down when she had left. He had loved her, and she had loved him. They had declared that to each other multiple times. But then she had left. He remembered the final call with her, over the comm.

"_You're saying goodbye to me?" he breathed, the shock practically visible in his facial expression as he stared at the beautiful woman who he wished was here._

"_. . .Yes. After this is over, we'll be two different people. I'll be a fugitive on the run, and you'll be an Alliance soldier."_

_She refused to meet his eyes, though he could see the wetness on her face. This was hard for her._

"_I. . .don't understand. I was going to quit, to retire to be with you. You always talked of having a normal life. I wanted us to have that life to-" he cut his voice off. She still didn't meet his eyes._

"_I loved you. . ." he breathed once more._

"_I know. But it's for the best that this ends. I'm sorry, Isaac." she said. Her final words rang in his mind as she ended the comm call._

_'I'm sorry, Isaac.'_

_'Sorry.'_

_He was broken. Shattered into a million pieces. He felt the world spin around him like that night so long ago when he was drunk and she had seduced him._

_He felt alone._

_Isaac felt alone. For the first time ever, there was a numbness that he was never going to remove from his body ever._

He stared at himself in the mirror, a pitiful version of the man he once was.

_I'd told myself I let her go. Why is she coming back to haunt me now? I buried her along with the rest. Dammit, why did you leave me?_

The tears were visible on his face now as he looked at himself in the mirror. He hadn't kept anything of her to remind himself either. No, out of anger and a pure rage that was in his blood, he had destroyed every last trace of her. And now she had come back to haunt his visions. Dammit, the irony was so painful.

_There's nothing I can do. I. . .need to talk with Shepard. He'll make me feel better._

His thoughts drifted to the Captain now, and he decided to send him a message to let him know he was coming.

He sat down at the terminal and began to type.


	7. Comfort

_A/N -_

_If you've read this far, then kudos. What do you think so far? Let me know! (I love to hear feedback on this!)_

_You've all been waiting patiently. So, it's finally time to reveal who Isaac's love is. Just, look forward to that in this chapter._

* * *

"We're not standing on formalities, are we sir?" Isaac asked as he entered. Shepard shook his head carefully, meeting Isaac's eyes. Perhaps he saw the wetness on his face.

"Your message mentioned talking. We don't need to be soldiers right now. Right now, we can be friends. I guess you have a lot to talk about." he said, gesturing for Isaac to sit on the couch, who gratefully did so.

"It's just. . .memories. I'd told myself I'd let them go, and move on. To become 'normal' again. But here they are now. . .and I can't deal with them."

He met Shepard's eyes once more, and saw that same look of caring on his face.

"Talk to me, then. What specific memories?"

He thought of mentioning her, bringing her up. She was, after all, the core of his problems.

"There was a woman I met before I joined up with the Alliance." he choked out before he could stop himself.

"She was so. . .perfect. Almost like she had been made that way. To be perfect, you know?" he glanced back at Shepard, who only sat in a resolute calm. Isaac's glance danced across the room to the fish tank.

"Anyway, she and I became very close. We had something, and then one night before the end of the war. . .she sent me a call. She told me goodbye, that we would be different people afterward. I had planned to quit, to set us up with a nice and normal life. She had always wanted that. . ." he trailed off, letting his mouth do the talking. The rest of his thoughts screamed at him to stop, but he felt the need to carry on.

"She told me she was sorry. And then she left. I haven't heard from her since then." he said, his tone shaking a bit.

"Shepard, she left a void I can't fill. And try as I might, I can't manage to focus. When I'm alone down on the Starboard Observation Deck, my thoughts drift to her. I don't get it. I should be remembering the war and all of this and here I am-" he was cutoff by Shepard's hand, which was now raised to ease him.

"She obviously meant a great deal to you. I'm sorry for your loss."

_Sorry? You're. . .sorry?!_

An outrage. Pure rage boiled within his blood and eyes at hearing those words.

"_I'm sorry for your loss."_

Why had it made him so angry all of a sudden?

Isaac being the fiery hot head he was, he wasn't about to let that slide.

"Dammit! Why did you have to say that? I don't want you to be sorry for me, I just want to have this emptiness gone. God fucking dammit." his fist slammed into the table, and he felt his head sink into his hands.

"Sorry. . .sir." he breathed.

Shepard shook his head. "I can see this has you very shaken. But there's nothing I can do other than tell you that you have to move on."

This made him even more enraged too.

"You don't think I've tried?! You don't think I've sat there telling myself I need to move on?. . ." he refused to meet Shepard's eyes, his head resting in between his hands still.

"Isaac."

Shepard's voice made him look up now. Catching the eye of the Captain, he met the gaze of a man who had felt the true pains of war. And he understood it now. Shepard was empathizing with him.

"I'm sorry." he repeated, this time his gaze never losing Isaac's.

Isaac actually believed the man, but he only sat there for now, his head dropping back into his hands.

"Yeah. Thanks." he whispered.

* * *

The showers on the Crew Decks were considerably less efficient then the one in his apartment back on the Citadel.

Isaac stood now, drying himself off after a quick shower. He couldn't find the energy (ironically) to bring himself to lay down for sleep. She would be waiting for him when he closed his eyes.

He couldn't sleep, so he had done the only humane thing he knew how to do; he found other things to do.

It was common nature. When a human found too much time to think, he found other things to occupy his thoughts.

It was awkward to think about it. Here he was, a hell of a soldier, finally back in action, and facing a mission that he had no idea what would be the outcome of, but he was too busy focusing on his past memories.

It was ironic, even.

Huh. Wasn't his life just full of irony recently.

Drying himself with the simple towels he was afforded, he left the men's restroom with a slight sigh.

The shower over, he would now have to return to his chambers for sleep. And sleep was one thing he wasn't looking forward to right now.

So, when Kasumi nearly ran directly into him, he was glad to see her.

"Oh. Sorry. Didn't see you there." she said, her casual humor gone, her voice a light whisper in the silence of the ship.

"No, it's alright. I was actually looking for something else to distract myself." he said in reply. She caught his glance once, and saw that he clearly wanted to talk.

"Alright. I'm game. What's up?" she said, that wry smirk dancing across her face once more. Isaac smiled at this and led the way back to the Starboard Observation Deck.

"I've got a lot of time to think and not enough things to spend it on, you know?" he said, turning to face her now, opening the viewing glass so that the sea of stars was revealed.

She thought about it for a moment, then nodded. She had felt that way before.

"Sure. So, what have you been doing then? To keep yourself busy, I mean."

"That's the problem. Back on the Citadel, I could go get drunk and get into a fight with someone, or go gamble my nights away in Chora's Den or something. Here, I have too much damn time to think, and it's killing me." he said, catching her eyes once more. She was getting used to meeting his own again.

"So what have you been thinking about, then?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Mostly just one thing, actually. I should be remembering my memories of the war and everything I saw, but I only remember one thing. . .her."

Kasumi seemed to notice the pain and sorrow in his voice, and she cocked an eyebrow, watching him stand to go over to the bar and pour himself a shot, though she turned the glass offered to her down.

"So there _was _a woman in your life! I knew it!" she said, giggling afterward. Isaac took the shot, smiling at her now.

"Yup. Hard to believe, I know. But she and I had something." his eyes seemed somewhat distant after he finished however.

Kasumi had spent far too much time watching others not to see this gesture.

"Oh? And where is she now?"

He paused to take another shot, then poured a full glass of the alcohol.

"She. . .left. Before the war was over. I recorded the conversation of course, and then buried it along with my other memories." he said, the alcohol beginning to take its sway over him.

"I. . .see. Sorry. I don't mean to-" she began, but he held up a hand to cut her off.

"No, it's fine." he paused for a quick drink before going on, now sitting down on the couch, gazing out the window into the glowing sea of black and white.

"No no. I need to talk to someone about this." he said, taking another sip.

"I see. And is that helping?" she asked, gesturing toward the liquor he held in his hand.

Isaac only shrugged at this. Like many other things, the liquid was only a means to an end.

"I guess so. Helps to get me loosened up." he said, looking up to her as she crossed the room to sit down on a chair across from him. She had been in this room during Shepard's mission with the Collectors. It was familiar to her.

"Well, loosened up Isaac is much better than feisty and hot headed Isaac." Kasumi said, crossing her arms across her chest now and leaning back in the tough leather chair.

Isaac seemed to find this funny, laughing at it before he went on, pausing for another drink then seeming to realize his glass was empty, he poured himself more.

"You know, you really should drink more water with that. You're going to have one hell of a headache if you don't." she said, but if his muddled mind heard her, he seemed to miss the point of it.

"I. . .know. I'm just-" he paused to hiccup and set the glass down. "Trying to keep my mind off of things. Trying not to focus on her." he said, looking out at the stars which now looked, to him, like one big mass of white and black mixed into one.

"So tell me about this woman. . ." Kasumi started, but she didn't need to ask. Isaac was already loosened from the alcohol, and he trusted her enough, so naturally being the babbling idiot he was, the words came out before he could stop them.

"She was beautiful. Perfect, really. She had black hair, and milk white skin. And blue eyes. I remember those well." he said, reciting his visual description of her.

"I. . .see." Kasumi said, his description bringing memories of people flashing through her vision. She remembered someone with that description, but she couldn't remember who it was.

"She wore this ridiculous suit too. It was skin tight, and white. God, she looked so. . .perfect in it."

"Stop." Kasumi said, holding up her hand. "I know who you're talking about. She used to work with us during the Collector mission." she decided that his silence was a sign to go onward.

"Miranda Lawson. Am I right?" Kasumi said, remembering Miranda now.

Isaac spit out the liquor in his mouth. Hearing her name spoken like that was like a bucket of ice water. And he had had a lot of those recently.

"How did you. . .how do you know her?" he asked, slowly, carefully. He had tried to hide her true identity, partially for her own safety, partially for his. And now, to hear her name spoken like that. . .it made him so. . .numb. Angry. Sad. Once again, his mind was muddled with the drink, so he couldn't find the right word for it.

"I told you; she helped us take down the Collectors." Kasumi repeated, catching Isaac's glance. There was a mixed feeling of. . .pain and sorrow, mingled with anger in those soft and caring green eyes.

"She never told me that. Miri never liked to tell me about her past. It was always 'live in the now and look toward the future'. She told me that once." he said, remembering her lecture after he had gotten emotional and blubbered something unintelligible about wishing he had met her sooner.

"_I'm happy for the first time in a while. I only wish I had that happiness sooner." he said, gazing into the eyes of the woman he loved._

"_No." she said forcefully, and he seemed confused, so she went on._

"_No looking back to the past. Put the past behind you, live in the now, and look forward to the future." she said, planting a small kiss on his lips._

"_Well, if the now is as good as I think it is, then I can live with that." was his solemn reply._

He was jerked back to reality by Kasumi's hand on his shoulder. He looked up to her eyes, and saw the pain and sorrow from his own reflected in hers.

"I know how you feel, Isaac. I've lost someone too."

Now it was his turn to play questions with her.

"Oh? And who was he?"

"Keiji Okuda." she said simply.

"And where is he now?" Isaac asked, and immediately regretted the feeling of pain that it brought to her eyes.

"Dead." she said simply.

"Oh. . .I'm sorry." he said, looking down now.

"No, it's just. . .it's hard to lose someone, you know. But you shouldn't destroy everything about them just because you don't want to remember them. I kept something of Keiji. You should keep something of Miranda too."

He shook his head slowly. "I did. I only kept one picture of her. But I haven't had the heart to look at it again."

"Isaac, come on now. Were you happy with her? Did you have good times? If you did, why do you insist on throwing her away? Don't you want to be happy remembering those moments with her?"

Isaac pondered it for a bit. What she was saying made sense, but his blind rage had told him to rid himself of everything that even remotely resembled her.

"I. . .you're right. I was just so. . .angry and broken after she left me that I didn't want to remember her." he stated plainly, his voice seeming to echo in the silence that followed.

"Well, you forget her leaving you and remember all the good times you had. It's a lot easier to deal with the pain of leaving if you remember the good times, Isaac." she said, looking over at him now. He hadn't noticed her cross the room at any point.

". . .I. . .don't know what to say, Kasumi." he said, refusing to meet her glance.

"Just think of it as repayment for saving my life." the thief said simply and quietly before leaving the man alone to his silence.

Quickly, he got up and went over the where the rest of his belongings were. Shuffling through his mess of personal belongings, he found the things he kept of her, packed away neatly in a side compartment. He smiled as the first tears fell from his face, taking the picture of her and placing it beside his bed on the nightstand, and then laying down for a long awaited rest.

The last thing he saw before he closed his eyes was the picture of Miranda staring back at him, a perpetual smile frozen on her face as she seemed to be right there with him. And, for the first time ever, he welcomed the memories of her with open arms.


	8. X

_A/N -_

_I can't reintroduce Jack into the story, but I think you'll enjoy this newest character._

* * *

The Alpha Draconis system was one system that Isaac hadn't been to before.

Mercenary work had taken him around the Galaxy, and his military life had also done the same for him. But he hadn't ever been to this system before.

Perhaps that was why, once more, he felt nervous in the rocking shuttle. Once more, Lieutenant Steven Cortez piloted it. It was routine now. He was becoming more and more acquainted with the routines, even if he had only been on one mission so far.

And this time he had no intention of pulling a stunt like he had last time. He would make sure not to let his squad mates down.

Last time, he had failed them.

He wasn't about to fail him this time.

"Liara, what info do we have on Project Infusion?" he asked, turning to face the asari now, who brought up some logs on her omni-tool.

"Project Infusion is using research from Subject Zero's project on Pragia-" she cut off after the she saw the look on Isaac's face.

"I can explain that one." Kasumi said, crossing her hands together and leaning forward.

"Subject Zero was Jack. She helped us defeat the Collectors. She's one hell of a biotic. If Project Infusion is using research from Jack's project, then we can only assume it has something to do with biotics." Kasumi said, looking to Liara who nodded.

"Ok. Well, at least I know who Jack is now. So, what info do we have on this project?" Isaac asked, turning back to Liara now.

"Kasumi is right, they are studying biotic research. The files we found say that they kidnapped an entire colony, women children and all, and are exposing them to pure element zero. We can assume that, since Jack was a powerful enough biotic, and she was a success at least in their minds, that they are trying to make a biotic even more powerful than Jack."

_Holy fuck. That sounds like hell. Pure eezo. . .?_

Isaac contemplated himself tied to some machine which pumped the eerie blue and radioactive liquid into his body, but he shook his head and chalked it up for 'Never Think About Again'.

"So other than that, what else do we know?" he asked, seeing if they could get anymore info.

The shuttle rocked suddenly, jarring the trio from their spots.

"Sir! They've got AA guns! Taking evasive maneuvers, but the LZ's getting swarmed. Looks like an entire squadron of Cerberus down there!" Steve's voice barked, while he focused on concentrating on controlling the shuttle.

"Take us in Lieutenant! Kasumi, open the hatch; we're going in hot!" Isaac barked in his gruff tone, his gravelly edge coming back to him. In combat, he was a soldier. A pure blooded soldier, skilled in killing. He wasn't going to lose his focus this time.

The hatch opened, and Isaac didn't wait for a moment longer before he began firing. Liara and Kasumi came next to him, firing with their precision weapons, but Isaac preferred the good old assault rifle.

"Sir! This is as close as I can get! They'll tear us to shreds with those guns if I get any closer!" Steve said, his voice barely audible over the sounds of gunfire.

"Alright, everyone out! Get out of range until we take care of those guns, Lieutenant!" Isaac barked, leaping from the open shuttle onto the ground below. The pain seared through him from the fall, but he removed his shotgun from his back and charged at a squad of Cerberus operatives, his adrenaline serving him well.

"Well, that's one way to take care of them." Kasumi said as she also jumped to the ground, landing lightly. Liara landed behind her, and the shuttle was gone moments later.

Isaac was a maniac in combat.

Perhaps that was where he had earned his reputation for playing loosely with the books.

The man was quite literally charging each Cerberus soldier who even looked in his way. He would charge between them, knock them over with the shotgun, and then fire straight into the chest.

By the time Liara and Kasumi made it to where he was, a bunch of bleeding and decimated corpses lay across the ground. Silence.

"Well. . .that was. . .fun." Isaac breathed, coming into view now. He was splattered in blood once more.

"Goddess, it's only been what, five seconds and he's already covered in it?" Liara whispered to Kasumi who only shrugged.

"What?" Isaac asked, wiping an arm across his forehead to clear some of the blood from his face.

"Nothing." Kasumi said, a casual glint of humor in her voice.

Isaac only shrugged, turning around and moving forward.

"Hey, there's some kind of hatch here. Looks like it leads underground." Isaac said, turning back to face his squad mates.

"We should take care of those guns before we descend, so we can call for extraction when we need it." Liara said, catching Isaac's eye, who now felt somewhat embarrassed that Liara had shown him up.

"Right. . .lets take care of those first."

"It looks like there's an above ground base over there. Maybe that has a power junction or terminal where we can deactivate those guns." Kasumi said, gesturing toward a small bunker to the north.

Isaac nodded, moving toward it slowly.

"Right lets just see if we can find something to kill in the meantime."

He must have noticed the silence or the looks on their faces, because he turned back to them, his face still smeared with blood.

"What?" he asked again, but they shook their heads. Isaac only sighed, moving forward.

The bunker was small. Enough to hold a power junction, maybe.

Stepping inside, a musty smell greeted their noses, and Isaac face became a messy mixture of dust and blood. It was utterly appalling to look at, but they wouldn't tell him yet.

"Here we are." Isaac said, pulling a lever suddenly. A sudden electrical hum and a few circuits breaking signified that the power had just gone out around the facility.

The explosion that rocked the ground moments later nearly knocked them all onto their knees. But that wasn't above ground. That was below the ground.

Isaac wiped an arm across his face, removing what he could of the gruesome mix, before catching himself again.

"What the hell was that?" he breathed, the tremors from whatever it was still vibrating through the ground.

"I have no idea, but it feels like its underground." Kasumi said, glancing back toward the hatch.

"The underground hatch. Come on." he said suddenly, dashing outside and stopping near the hatch, where he proceeded to find some way to open it. Kasumi and Liara joined him moments later, while he was struggling with the hatch.

"Need some help with that?" Liara asked, a thin grin dancing across her face.

"No no, I just need to-"

Liara flared her biotics, and released a Pull a moment later, which sent the hatch sailing open.

"Got it!" Isaac said, but Kasumi and Liara shared another look.

"What?" he asked again, noticing the look, before dropping down into the bunker. He turned to face them now.

"You two stay up here. If this entire bunker collapses, I don't want to lose all of us. Get Steve back here and ready for extraction." he said, his voice calm as he stared into the eyes of his squad mates.

"Understood." they both said in unison, and Liara began to open a comm channel as Isaac descended further into the dark tunnels.

* * *

He had been walking through darkness for too long. He couldn't see anything ahead of him.

It was pitch black. Nothing but pitch black completely around him.

Isaac didn't like being blind. It made him feel so hopeless.

There was a sudden light ahead. A sudden light and rocking dirt and gravel above his head that could collapse on him any moment. He tried not to think about that one though.

The light was hope, even if it glowed an eerie blue color.

_Wait. . .eezo. . ._

He suddenly rushed forward, moving at a fast pace toward the light. The tunnel here winded downward and jerked to the left suddenly, opening into a larger chamber now.

"What the hell?" Isaac breathed, looking around him as he blue glow encompassed him. It suddenly seemed so. . .bright.

Wait. A figure ahead. Movement. For once, Isaac didn't fire carelessly.

He couldn't make out the distinct shape of the figure, but there was someone there.

They walked forward now, and Isaac could see the outline of the figure now.

Whatever it was looked like something out of a horror movie, the glow giving distinct definition to its body. But what really sent chills down his spine was the eyes of this. . .creature.

They glowed the same eerie blue as the glow around them, and they _blinked _at him.

"What the hell?" Isaac repeated, his shotgun raised.

The figure stepped forward now, chuckling and revealing a set of white teeth that made it look even more eerie.

"Who. . .are you?" Isaac asked, trying to get this creature to talk.

"I. ..am. . .X." the figure said, stopping in front of Isaac now.

"X?" Isaac asked, and the information for the mission came back to him now.

_Subject Zero. . .Project Infusion. . .is this Project Infusion?_

X seemed to grasp his head with his hand.

"I. . .can't remember my real name. They called me Specimen X. I took the name X from them." he said, meeting Isaac's gaze with his own, though Isaac had trouble looking into those eyes.

"They is Cerberus, right?" Isaac asked, lowering his shotgun now.

X nodded. "Yes. They kidnapped an entire colony of us. Exposed us to element zero in the purest form. Pumped us full of it. Somehow, I survived. The others all died around me." he looked away now. "It was. . .painful to watch them die while I survived."

Isaac would have gone on, but X drove onward still.

"But they slipped up. The fuckers lowered the power enough for me to escape, and now I'm going to take my revenge on every last shithead who did this to me." he growled in a low tone, a thin snarl spreading across his face.

"Are you with them?" he asked suddenly, and Isaac felt his heart skip a beat.

"No no. We got word of Project Infusion. We came to stop it and find whatever we could on Cerberus activities."

X seemed to smile at this, and he spread his arms now.

"You're looking at the last survivor of Project Infusion. As for Cerberus activities, you're looking in the wrong place."

Isaac shrugged. At least they had stopped Cerberus from wiping out the last survivor of Project Infusion.

"You say you want to take revenge on Cerberus? Join us. We have a ship. We're hunting down Cerberus, and we could use allies like you." Isaac said, not thinking of the words before they escaped his mouth.

X seemed to ponder this for a while, before nodding.

"Alright. I'll go with you for now. But only for now." he said the last part with a thin grin on his face that Isaac placed under the category of a death grin, not a friendly and casual grin.

"Ok." Isaac said, contacting Liara through the comm link.

"Liara? Are you there?"

A moment later, the asari's voice crackled in over the comm.

"Yes. Waiting for your return. Did you find anything out about Project Infusion?" she said, and Isaac glanced back up at X slowly.

"Err. . .yeah. Coming up now. Be ready for extraction."

"Roger that." her voice chimed in, before the comm link closed.

"This is going to be more fun than I first thought." X mused, half to himself. Isaac only scratched his head as he lead the way out of the tunnels.

* * *

"For the last fucking time, I don't need surgery!" X yelled, lifting a crate of medical supplies and throwing it toward Doctor Chakwas, who dodged it barely.

"But our scans show that you're pumped full of eezo. There's no possible way that you can be standing for more than. . .three hours." The Doctor repeated, her calm voice trying to reassure their latest 'guest'.

X had been trouble. Isaac was starting to regret bringing him on board, but Shepard had trusted his judgment.

_Did I make the wrong choice bringing him here?_

"Stand down." Shepard said now, stepping forward.

"I'm Captain Shepard, and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't try to destroy my ship."

X laughed at this, still quite the distance away from the others gathered here, though they had him cornered in the Med Bay.

"Shit. You sound soft." X said, glancing up to meet Shepard's eyes, who, much to Isaac's surprise, could hold X's gaze for longer than him.

"We just rescued you from Cerberus hands. I think you owe us a 'thank you', or at least an explanation of what they were doing down there." Shepard said, his voice retaining that resolute calm still.

X shrugged.

"What your Doc says is true. They pumped pure eezo through me."

Isaac stepped forward now.

"X tells me that they kidnapped an entire colony of people. They pumped them full of the stuff. Apparently, he's the only survivor."

Shepard nodded, turning back to X.

"Is that true?"

X grasped his head with a hand.

"I. . . can't remember. They. . .implanted me. It. . .makes it hard to think."

Doctor Chakwas waved an omni-tool now, bringing up scans of X.

"Yes. There's an implant at the base of the skull, but it's unlike any other I've seen before."

"They. . .talked about it. Said it was. . .meant to take the natural chemical reactions from the brain and. . .use those to power the implant." X breathed, taking the words slowly. It obviously hurt to remember.

"Well, as far as scans go, he's stable for now. We just need to remove all of that eezo from him."

X glanced from one member of the group, to the other, and then to the rest. Concern showed in their eyes.

"Alright. I'll stay here until you can find someone to complete the procedure." X said, sighing and dropping his head into his hands.

"Everyone dismissed." Shepard said, his voice commanding and strong as usual.

The rest of the group dispersed, but Doctor Chawkwas caught Shepard before he left. Her voice was a low whisper.

"Shepard, if we don't find him someone soon. . .X will die." she said, looking at X with a concerned glance.

"Not on my watch." Shepard whispered back, glancing with that same concern at X before leaving.


	9. Reunion

_A/N -_

_Well, we've come to the moment where you've all been waiting for. I don't want to say much without spoiling things, but the romance you've been waiting for is coming. ;-)_

* * *

His eyes came up to rest on her picture. And once more, the memories flooded over him. They washed over him like a wave, and it was a wave he gladly met.

_Miri. . ._

His thoughts shook him back into reality. It was strange, but welcoming her memories instead of avoiding them had helped him. He didn't feel the wetness when he remembered her anymore. He didn't feel blind rage when he stared at that picture of her, that smile frozen on her face.

And most of all, he could feel happy remembering those times with her. They came over him now, and he picked one of his favorites.

"_You're. . .asking me to dance?" he breathed, sure that she could hear his heart pounding. She wore a ridiculous red skin tight dress that he was sure she was trying to grab his attention with._

"_Yes, I am. We need to be more. . .normal. Normal couples dance, don't they?" she said, looking into his eyes._

She had always talked of having a normal life.

"_Normal, huh? Miri, we're far from normal." he said, trying to mimic her dance moves. There was one thing he had never done before._

"_I've never had that chance before. I just. . .I want this to work. Us." she said, and she pulled herself close to him. He felt the need to hug her, to tell her that everything was going to be ok._

"_We'll get that normal life. Maybe when this is all over. . ."_

_She gazed up at him, and he could see the pain and sorrow in her eyes._

"_When this is over, who knows where we'll be." her voice was barely a whisper, but it sent chills down his spine as she hugged him tight._

"_I'll get us that normal life." he said suddenly before he could stop the words. She gazed up at him again, and said one thing._

"_Promise?"_

"_I promise."_

He hadn't gotten the chance to fulfill that promise. It had been-

"Isaac, you there? Shepard just called a meeting. He has a lead." Joker's voice crackled in over the comm, and Isaac nodded curtly, glancing once more at the picture on his bedside before he left his dwelling and headed up to the Conference Room.

* * *

"We've got a lead. It's a small one, but it's a lead." Shepard said, walking back and forth at the front of the group.

"So what have we got?" Isaac asked again.

"What we have is a message from a colony under attack. The message was encrypted, but we decoded it It's. . ." he turned to glance at Kasumi and Liara, and X, who was now sitting with them.

"It's from Miranda." Shepard breathed, and Isaac felt suddenly like a mirror, shattered by a rock.

_Miri. . .? Holy shit, is it really her. . .now? Of all times. . .?_

He felt a sudden blind rage build within him, and it consumed his every thought.

"Miranda Lawson?" he breathed, and Shepard nodded.

"Wasn't she a Cerberus agent at one point?" he said slowly, taking in the shock of this as carefully as he could.

"Yes, but. . .I don't see your point. I trust Miranda." Shepard said, but Isaac wasn't about to let the one woman who had destroyed his entire life come aboard this ship.

"No." he said firmly, and the others turned to look at him now, as he stood.

"No. We can't go get her. She could have any number of traps laid out for her. How can we still trust her? Maybe she went back to Cerberus after the Wars-" he was cutoff by the look on Shepard's face.

"No! I told you already! If you want to go fetch her, then you can find someone else to-"

"Stand down!" Shepard yelled so suddenly and fiercely that Isaac thought he might explode in rage on him. But his blood was already boiling. There was no stopping the rage now.

"She could be working for them again! She could be trying to help Cerberus again! Maybe she ended up taking over Cerberus! You don't know that-"

He was cutoff again by Shepard, who now firmly slammed his fist into the table.

"I said Stand Down Lieutenant!"

It was enough to calm Isaac down, but he stormed from the room, retreating to some unknown corner of the ship where he could gather his thoughts in quiet.

* * *

He didn't understand it. By all things, he should have been happy to hear that they were going to rescue her.

Yet, hearing her name spoken like that had awakened some old rage and anger within him, and he hadn't been able to control it.

Shepard had refused to speak to him since then. It was more of Isaac had refused to speak to him, but thinking of it the other way around made him feel somewhat better.

_I exploded in rage on him. Why? What came over me?_

He stood in the shuttle, refusing to talk with X or Kasumi. Liara had suggested taking X along as a biotic powerhouse. They were eager to see his abilities firsthand.

Isaac wasn't. More importantly, some part of him dreaded seeing her again.

They were heading to Freedom's Progress; a colony that Shepard had said he had been to before. It had gone dark after a Collector attack, but it was coming back onto the grid now.

The shuttle rocked. Once, twice, thrice as they continued their descent.

He tried to ignore the gut wrenching pain that was settling in, tried to ignore the cold and numb feeling that was seeping into his skin.

_We're actually going to meet her again. Holy fuck._

"This is as close as we get, sir. LZ looks clear, strangely." Steve said, glancing back at the trio.

Isaac only nodded curtly, opening the hatch for the shuttle and descending to the ground. X glanced at Kasumi, who only shrugged, before descending from the shuttle too.

The cold night air chilled his skin even more, and it made him remember the night long ago on Illium again. Dammit, he had to focus.

The shuttle was gone moments later, retreating into the sky.

"Isaac?" Kasumi asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"Quiet." he said, holding up a hand. "Listen."

They could hear gunfire. Shots being fired from ahead. Sounds of screaming and yelling.

"Sounds like a real firefight. Better be ready." Isaac said, advancing forward.

Moments later, a body of some unlucky Cerberus operative came flying over the barricade ahead, his body glowing with a blue mass effect field. The body landed somewhere behind them.

_Biotics. Miri was a Biotic. Shit_

He stepped forward into one of the houses now, ignoring the cold feeling that was still seeping through him.

"Isaac?" Kasumi asked again, but the man ignored her now. His mind had only one thought running through it.

_I'm going to see her again._

He moved forward still, even if he dreaded the moment of seeing her again. It was like coming to school without a project that you know you had to have done. You dreaded it and the reaction your teacher would have, but you did nothing to stop it.

It was, perhaps, a childish comparison, but Isaac felt a bit childish and selfish after his incident with the Captain.

"There's something ahead." came the voice of X, jarring Isaac from his thoughts to focus on the flash of white movement ahead.

A woman.

Not only that. It was _her._

"Shit, she's in trouble. Come on." Isaac said, his usually gruff tone gone as he rushed forward now.

* * *

Miranda Lawson was used to being hunted by Cerberus. Since her resignation at the Collector Base, Miranda had become a rouge fugitive with plenty of dirt on Cerberus.

After the Illusive's mans death, Cerberus had been split into smaller cells and groups. Their attacks were less focused, less organized. More of desperate attempts to get back whatever she had stolen from them this time.

And this time, it was worth being hunted by an entire platoon of Cerberus soldiers.

She had vital information for the Alliance; Cerberus' newest plans. She had also learned that after the Illusive Man's death, someone new had taken over Cerberus.

The idiots had been stupid enough to let her rejoin them as a high ranking official. That only made the sound of hearing them scream and yell in pain from the force of her biotics that much more satisfying.

_Trust no one. Not even former allies._

Miranda had been a Cerberus operative in the days of the Collectors, but she had quit after surviving the suicide mission with Shepard. Funny to think of it like that, considering every one in that crew had come back alive.

She turned now, flaring her biotics and releasing a Slam that sent the trio of Cerberus soldiers following her flailing through the air like mindless idiots only to be thrown toward the ground at lethal speeds moments later.

She took a moment to catch her breath, breathing heavily with the combined effort of running, shooting, and using biotics. She turned to run, but saw a squad of soldiers advancing down the slopes toward her. The other direction had another squad advancing down the sides too. They had her surrounded, but she wasn't about to lose her cool.

She fired a few shots, finding a spot somewhere in the middle where she could fire on both sides with biotics and gunfire, but it wasn't enough. The few she picked off helped to lower her chances of being shot, but she could tell she wouldn't last long if they got any closer.

The sudden blast of a giant mass effect field cleared the side behind her of Cerberus soldiers. A trio of soldiers—Alliance, most likely—rushed out from a building where the soldiers had just been cleared out.

One was a woman in a deep black hooded cloak. She could tell this was Kasumi Goto right away.

Another was a man who wore nothing more than a simple pair of leather shoes and black shorts. He had a cleanly shaven head and glowing blue eyes.

The final man was the one who surprised her the most.

* * *

"Miri!" the words came out before he could even stop them. He pulled the assault rifle from his back, and gave his two squad mates covering fire as they advanced toward Miranda, who covered behind a railing.

She seemed shocked to see him too. At least he wasn't alone there.

_Serves you right. _Came his bitter thoughts as he fired at the remaining soldiers.

X wasn't about to let him have any glory though. Flaring his biotics, he stood carefully, holding up his arms in an 'X' formation. It seemed like he was about to dance for them when the mass effect fields converged around the tips of his hands, drawing all the way down his arms and finally being released when he threw his arms forward, sending a massive wall of blue destruction cascading directly toward the remaining soldiers. The most shocking part was the fact that he still stood after that move.

Isaac had regrouped with the two now, and X rejoined them, a thin smile on his face.

"That felt good. Really good."

The look that the others gave him, including Miranda, was one of shock. Mingled with fear.

_Glad he's on our side. _Isaac thought, realizing that they would have had more trouble if they hadn't rescued X from the hands of Cerberus.

"Miri, talk to me." Isaac said, looking at her. She met his eyes with her own, and there was only an. . .emptiness to greet him where he thought there would be love.

"Isaac Black. It's been a while." she said, her voice accented with her no nonsense and crisp tone that he had fallen for so long ago.

"Yes, it has. But right now, we need to get you the hell out of here. Shepard's waiting for us back on the Normandy."

Miranda nodded fiercely. There would be time for catching up later. She just hoped that 'catching up' didn't involve confronting their past feelings.

"Incoming, Isaac!" Kasumi said, and X stood now, turning to them.

"Leave em to me." he said, a wry smirk dancing across his face.

"Errr. . .alright. Meet us at the rendezvous then, X." Isaac said, and then watched the man walk slowly toward the squadron of approaching Cerberus soldiers, seeming to deflect every bullet fired at him before letting loose with another huge Shockwave.

"Pfft. Show off." Kasumi chimed in, and got a glance from Miranda and Isaac to silence her.

"Ok, ok. Lets get you back to the Normandy then." Kasumi said, standing now, noticing no sign of X, though screams and shouting could be heard, along with a maniacal laughter that made her cringe.

"Yeah. I've had enough of this planet." Isaac said, breathing in heavily, suddenly aware that the woman he had loved—the only one had loved—was sitting next to him, alive and breathing.

"Come on." he stood, but Miranda motioned for him to come back. Lowering himself behind the wall again, he looked at her with concern.

"What's wrong?" he breathed, barely able to prepare himself for the answer.

"I was hit." she said, taking in great laboring breaths.

"I should be fine. I just need some help getting up."

He stood, casually glancing down at her before holding out his hand to her. She looked up at him for a moment, and he was lost in those eyes again as he remembered himself as a young and dashing Mercenary, and her as a sexy and cocky operative. Those had been the days.

She grabbed his hand, stabling herself on the railing before she pulled herself up to meet his eyes for the first time in forever. He contemplated kissing her then, but he knew she would pull away the moment he tried. Not that he wanted to. A sudden rage and dreading fear was building within him.

_Has she forgotten everything that we were to each other?_

Her eyes seemed to torment him, to reject him, but he knew this couldn't be true. She couldn't seriously hope that he wasn't going to want to confront her about this later.

His emerald eyes reflected his own words without even having to speak them. _We'll talk later._

She let go of his hand now, grasping her hip where she had been shot before. He moved forward now, wrapping her arm over his shoulder, and helping her to walk back to the shuttle extraction. They found X there, waiting for them. Covered in as much blood as he was, he quite resembled Isaac after combat, Kasumi mused.

"Come on you shitheads. Cerberus doesn't wait all day." X said, a thin smile across his face.

_At least __**he's **__having fun. _Isaac thought, helping Miranda onto the shuttle. Moments later, they were off, leaving the hellhole of Freedom's Progress behind.

* * *

"Shepard!"

Miranda's voice was filled with happiness and a sorrow. She rushed from his arms, even with her wound, into his, and he embraced her tightly. Isaac stood, watching the two as they hugged.

It made him sick.

Rage boiled within him, but he ignored it for now, watching her pull away from him, the tears in her eyes visible.

"I thought you were dead." she breathed so silently that he almost couldn't hear.

"No, thanks to the team that found me. Unfortunately, I won't be in combat any time soon again." Shepard said, and then nodded to Isaac.

"Isaac here is my XO. He's leading my ground teams. I'm just in charge of the ship."

Miranda turned to look at him now, studying him with her sorrow and happiness gone the moment she had laid eyes on him.

"Yes. . .Mr. Black and I are already. . .acquainted."

She finished the sentence with a tone that made Isaac cringe, and he couldn't help but stare at Shepard with a hatred in his eyes. Shepard had been kind to him in the past, but to steal the one woman he loved from him?

It pissed him off.

"Yeah. Miranda and I know each other. Big deal." he said, shrugging casually. Shepard glanced from him to her, and then back to him, seeming to see something there, though he shook his head after.

"Miranda, you should go get that wound checked out. I need a word with Isaac here."

She glanced at him again, before passing him by, her casual "Of course." her only reply before leaving the two.

Shepard opened his mouth to speak, but Isaac cut him off.

"I thought you were a friend. You made it look like you were. And now you betray me?" he spat, the rage just barely boiling over into his eyes and his speech.

Shepard looked genuinely confused, and he cocked his head now.

"Betray you? Isaac, I did nothing to hurt you. What do you mean 'betray you'?" the Captain said, his voice all too calm.

"Don't you play coy with me. I saw that look. I saw that. I'm not blind, Captain." he spat back, his gruff tone coming back into his voice.

Shepard looked confused still. It pissed him off to see that look on his face.

"You're playing with me! Just stop it already!" he yelled, suddenly stepping forward to draw himself close to her.

"She was the only one I ever loved. And you took that away from me. You make me sick." he breathed, his voice barely a whisper.

"You. Make. Me. Sick." he repeated for effect, well aware that this incident might get him kicked off the ship.

"Isaac I don't-" he suddenly understood. A look of realization dawned on his face.

"Miranda. She was the one you were talking about."

Isaac glared at him. But he slowly nodded.

"Isaac, there's nothing between Miranda and me. She's just a good friend." Shepard said, backing up a bit now.

"And why should I believe you?" Isaac growled back, his rage still ready to boil over.

"Because. . ." Shepard began, but he seemed somewhat hesitant to say the next part "because I'm bonded with Liara." he finished, gazing into the eyes of Isaac. He saw the rage retreat.

"You. . .bonded with her?" he asked, backing up now. The embarrassment just beginning to wash over him.

"Yes. She and I are. . .married, if you will. We actually have a family, if you really want to know."

Isaac didn't want to know, but the more he heard about their relationship, the farther he placed Shepard away from Miranda.

_Which means that. . ._

"Shit. Sorry. It's just. . .I'm. . .fuck. Sorry, sir." Isaac refused to meet his glance, and a pained expression spread across Shepard's face.

"It's alright. No harm done."

Isaac refused to meet the gaze of his Captain, walking past the man now to retreat to his dwelling so that he could be alone.


	10. Interlude

_A/N -_

_This chapter is dedicated to those Liara and M Shep fans out there. Personally a fan of Liara myself (I romanced her in all three games) I felt that these two love birds needed their own chapter. And while I realize it may be shorter than most, I think it truly signifies the relationship they've come to develop. Enjoy._

* * *

Sometimes, he got lonely. And when he felt lonely, he felt he wanted to be around the ones he loved.

Shepard may have been the savior of the Galaxy, but he was just a man underneath all of that.

The slight knock at his door told him someone was waiting for him, and for a moment he thought it was Isaac, but seeing Liara step inside, he smiled warmly.

"Liara. I wasn't expecting you." he said, watching her cross the cabin and come down the stairs to stand near him.

"I thought we needed to spend some time alone. Just. . .us. I feel like work has gotten in the way too much, and I can't remember the last time I told you that I loved you. . ." her voice trailed off, but she met the face of the man she loved, and was surprised to find a wry smirk dancing at the corners of his mouth.

"Liara, you should know something." he said, almost inaudible in the close range she was to him.

"I'm having an affair with Miranda." he said, gazing into her own blue eyes, his gaze never once leaving hers.

"Oh really now?" the asari said, her hands going to her hips as she gestured around the room.

"I hope you decontaminated the cabin at least." she said, a thin and wry smirk dancing across her face.

Shepard couldn't help but laugh at this. Here was a woman who he loved. Not only that, but here was a woman who knew him so well to tell when he was making simple jokes. He was lucky to have someone like her. To have someone that understood when he was kidding.

He crossed the cabin now, feeling the moisture of the fish tank chill his skin, and sat down on the bed, looking up at Liara, who seemed lost in thought for a moment, that smile still on her face.

"Ok. I have to ask." she said, crossing the cabin now to come sit next to him.

"Of all the other women you've captivated, why Miranda?"

Shepard chuckled at this, and she smiled, catching his glance again.

"Well, it actually concerns Isaac." he said, the humor fading from his face as he remembered the painful expression on his XO's face after he had thought there was something between him and Miranda.

Liara seemed to noticed this, and she rested a hand on his shoulder now.

"What happened?" she breathed quietly.

"He. . .mistook my relationship with Miranda. Thought I was. . .intimate with her."

Liara laughed at this, and she looked back at Shepard now.

"Sorry. I just thought about it, and it would be strange to sleep with the woman who resurrected you, wouldn't it?"

Shepard started to think about it, but after careful contemplation decided that was a stone best left unturned.

"Anyway, he and I had an argument over her. He thought there was something between Miranda and me, but I told him that I loved you."

Shepard gazed back over at Liara now, who had a sudden smile dancing across her face, but it wasn't one of humor. It was one of love. And it made his heart swell when he saw it.

"He and Miranda were very. . .close. Or so he tells me."

Liara nodded, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"The way they look at each other. . .it reminds me of you and I when we first met. They play this game of not confessing their true feelings, running around in circles before finally ending up in each others arms."

He pulled her into an embrace now, holding her tightly.

"I love you." he breathed, feeling her breath against his neck and his against hers.

"I love you too, Shepard." she said, pulling back from the embrace to plant a light kiss on his mouth.

"You know, we haven't had a lot of time to express our love anymore. It's hard being Captain of a ship with the woman you love on board."

Liara seemed distant, remembering something funny as a smirk danced across her face again.

"It never occurred to me before. But what is it with this ship and the romance?" she said, glancing back at him now.

He laughed at this, moving closer to her now.

"I never thought it was the ship. It was just you."

He pulled her close for a deep kiss, and when she pulled away, she smiled at him, that same smile that made his heart swell with love.

"Flatterer." she said simply, and they hugged each other closely. They would have had more time to spend together, alone, just them, had Joker not interrupted them over the comm. A pure look of embarrassment spread across Liara's face as Shepard stood slowly.

"Joker? What's up?"

"Uhh. . .we got an 'incident' down in the Crew Decks, with Miranda and Kasumi. You might want to go break it up before they rip the place to shreds." Joker said, his causal and cocky humor dancing through his voice again.

Shepard gave a worried glance to Liara, who stood now and left the room with him. There was no telling what 'incident' meant in Joker's books.


	11. Clash

_A/N -_

_Well, it's time to burn off some of that tension that's been building up after all of this between these two. This chapter is more T rated, but do know that there are some more vulgar references toward the end of this chapter._

_Without further ado, enjoy. ;-)_

* * *

"I don't want to talk about it!" Miranda repeated, her voice now considerably louder and more forceful than before.

"Shame. He's a fine man, you know." Kasumi said, that wry smirk dancing across her face as she hovered just out of the reach of Miranda.

"I said I didn't want to!" Miranda repeated again, this time through gritted teeth. She flared her biotics, flinging a crate from across the room at Kasumi, who cloaked and disappeared, dodging it easily. She reappeared behind Miranda moments later.

"You two are so much alike too. You both have that feisty attitude."

Miranda turned, wailing her fist in the direction of that voice, but only coming up with air. Kasumi reappeared in front of her this time.

"You know, I've heard he has quite the abs." she said, that wry smirk never fading from her face.

She cloaked again, dodging another flying crate, and reappearing next to Miranda.

"I. Don't. Want. To. Talk. About. It." Miranda repeated again, throwing an overturned crate through the air, sending all kinds of data pads and other junk falling to the ground. Kasumi took in a breath to speak again, but she was cut off by a sudden and gruff voice.

"Stand down, both of you!"

Shepard appeared from seemingly nowhere moments later, and he walked with a strong and resolute calm.

"What the hell is going on here?" he breathed, his voice cold and unforgiving as he glanced from Miranda to Kasumi, to the spilled junk on the floor, and then back to Kasumi.

"You two got along just fine during the Collector mission. Why fight now?"

Miranda was the first to speak up.

"Shepard, you know me. It was her who insisted on talking about old things, reopening old wounds. She instigated this."

"What the fuck is all of this noise for?" a very tired and very grim looking Isaac in his simple bed clothes said, stumbling forward, and glancing between Kasumi and Miranda.

_Shit._

"Why don't you tell us, Isaac?" Kasumi said, glancing at him with her wry smirk still on her face. Shepard intervened before he could reply though.

"If you want to have a cat fight over my crew, then take it planet side. I don't have time for this on my ship. Is that clear?" he breathed, glancing between Kasumi and Miranda and Isaac, who, completely unwillingly, had just gotten himself into something he had wanted to avoid.

"We're clear." they both said in unison, but that wasn't the end of this.

"Now then, this is obviously something between you and Miranda, Isaac. I'm locking you two in the Cargo Hold until you either kill each other or make up. Is that clear?"

Shepard barked his orders in a way that Isaac couldn't find himself to say 'no' to.

_Shit shit shit._

* * *

She was standing there. Just. . .staring at the wall.

Of course, he was doing the same.

They hadn't spoken since they had been sent down here. And there wasn't going to be an escape until they made nice.

"So." he said, staring at the opposite wall of her.

"So." she replied, mocking his tone.

"You know, you left me." he said in a low tone, turning to face her now.

She refused to meet his eyes.

"So? It wouldn't have worked."

"Wouldn't have worked?! Miri, you didn't give me a chance!"

She wailed on him now, turning to face him.

"Don't call me that." she said, her voice becoming fierce.

"Why not? Does it hurt you to remember us? What we were?" he breathed, his voice growing in volume now.

"No! You were the one who always promised everything. I believed you for once, and you left me to join the Alliance! You made me worry every day that you would die!"

There were tears in her eyes now, but these weren't sad tears. Those were brought on by anger.

"_You _we're the one who told me that it was for the best that we ended it! You called me before it was all over and told me that we wouldn't work! You never gave me a chance! I had a whole life set up for us, everything, and you destroyed it in a matter of seconds!" he yelled, his voice gaining its fiery tone that signified his rage was boiling again.

She looked hurt at his comment.

_Good. Let her be hurt._

"You never understood what you put me through, watching the war vids. I kept watching soldiers die and thinking 'That's him', and it broke me. You _promised _me, dammit."

She was hurt. But he was hurt too.

"Miri, I never wanted to hurt you. I wasn't doing the right thing. It just. . .that seemed like the better fight."

"Dammit, don't call me that!" she yelled, her biotics flaring now. He watched her, so broken now, and he did the only thing he could. He pulled her to his chest, and held her head against his heart. And, for a brief moment, he was a young mercenary and she was a beautiful woman in a red dress. She gazed up into his eyes, and his hand came up, wiping the tears from her face before planting a kiss on her lips.

"It's alright." he breathed, in that tone so familiar to her from so long ago.

"No. It's. . .not the same now." she said, pulling away from him, leaving him longing for her touch.

"Miri. . ." he began, but she cut him off.

"Dammit, you can't just show up and rescue me and hope to sweep me off my feet again." she said, looking back at him. His hand went out to rest on her arm, but she jerked away at his touch, shuddering.

"We need to stay away from each other. Cope with this in silence. It's for the best." she refused to meet his gaze. Her words hurt him. Stunned him. Shattered him like he was a mirror again.

"Miri, how can you say that?" he said, his voice a bare whisper. "After everything that we had? This is all that it meant to you? That _I _meant to you?"

She still refused to meet his glance. She walked back up the stairs now, and he followed helplessly.

"Miri. . ." he said once more, but she didn't look at him.

"It's not the same." she repeated again, before walking through the doors.

"Miri, wait!" Isaac said, the pain clear in his voice as he chased after her.

* * *

His fingers trailed lightly over her face. His heart swelled with a love shattered.

"Miri. . ." he whispered, half to himself. It was hard to think that the woman he loved was on this ship.

She had rejected him. Turned him away.

She had spurned him like he had never meant anything to her. But he had seen the pain and sorrow in her eyes.

What had made her say that? How could she say that? How could he even come to terms with the fact that he had been hoping for this all along and now it had gone the exact way that he had hoped it wouldn't?

A single tear fell from his face, landing on the picture frame to slide down it, removing a layer of dust that had gathered there.

He stood now, removing himself from the bed to take the picture back to the place where it belonged, along with everything else of hers.

He stored it away in the side compartment, where he had first found it, locking away his love for her. There was no way after what she had said to him that they could continue with them.

The door opened suddenly. He was expecting to see Kasumi there, but was shocked to see Miranda herself walk through. She stopped to stare at him, kneeling on the ground next to his footlocker.

"Listen, I know you must be hurt." she began, but he didn't know what to say back to her.

"Isaac. . ." she trailed off, but he gazed at her now, standing slowly. A sudden rage boiled within him, like a boiling pot of water threatening to spill over.

"You come here _now_? What, it wasn't enough that you threw me away like a stone in the Cargo Hold? Now you have to do it here too?" he spat, his anger evident in his voice.

Her eyes flared with an anger as a reaction to his own anger.

"You bastard! You play with my feelings, you torture me, haunt my memories, and now you spurn me away?!" her rage was building now, and he was ready to meet her rage.

"You're the bastard here! You're the one who threw me away! How do you think that made me feel?!" he yelled, throwing up his arms in frustration.

"I thought I loved you once. But you made me different. Everything that I was taught I was willing to ignore for you, and you changed me. And then you left me to go join with them!"

She always brought up his joining with the Alliance. He didn't see why it bothered her so much.

"After that last job? Would you have preferred I died there?" he spat back, recalling the very reason why he had quit mercenary work. He had been targeted for assassination, and they had nearly succeeded. It was all a trap, a job with high pay to lure him close, then they had moved in for the kill. They had nearly succeeded in killing him, but thanks to intervening by-

"I wasn't about to continue down a path that could very well get me killed!" he said, focusing his eyes on hers, boring his rage into her.

She glared back at him for the longest time before he moved forward so quickly, so forcefully. Pulling himself against her in the way that she remembered he always did.

And he tilted her head up to pull her into a deep and intoxicating kiss, pulling her tight against him as he practically dragged her back to the bed.

* * *

She was already awake by the time he regained himself, awaking from sleep with his customary panic, which resided moments later.

She refused to meet his eyes, probably thinking over what had just happened. She was sitting at his bedside still.

"That was nice. But this doesn't change anything." she said, her no nonsense tone back again.

Isaac smiled, watching her leave his chambers behind, remembering the moment while it had lasted.

It may not have changed anything for her, but it had changed something for him.


	12. Coma

_A/N -_

_I started at Chapter 8 this morning. Now I'm on Chapter 12. That's a fair amount of progress for one day, though I'm going to tackle Chapter 13 here soon. I just can't manage to pull myself away from it and say 'stop it, stop typing and go to bed' but here's the next part for you all. _

* * *

"What do you mean he's in a coma?" Isaac breathed, hardly unable to think of X in a state like that.

"I'm telling you, his scans are dark. He's breathing, but his brain shows lowered activity rates." Doctor Chakwas repeated, her voice calm and resolute as she led the way back to the Med Bay.

"I don't get it, Doc. He was just fine a little bit ago. . ." Isaac started, the concern showing in his voice.

"The eezo within him brought him to this. It's going to kill him if we don't find a medical mastermind with the tools and the wit to perform this procedure." she said, her voice laced with concern too.

"I thought that we had state-of-the-art medical equipment?" Isaac breathed, stopping in the door to the Med Bay, dreading seeing the comatose form of X.

"We. . .do." Doctor Chakwas said, but she glanced at him. "The Normandy is equipped with the proper tools for the procedure. It's just. . ." she trailed off, glancing away.

"You don't think you can pull it off." he finished for her, stepping near her to lay a hand on her shoulder.

"I understand, Doc. It's fine."

She only sighed, looking up at him now with eyes that showed a warmth and concern for him too.

"Just. . .it's hard, knowing that you might fail. I'm not experienced with the procedure, so I haven't tried the surgery for fear that he might die in the process." she said, her voice a whisper now.

"It's alright. We'll find someone for him." Isaac said, giving her one more reassuring pat on the shoulder before moving forward to check on X.

He looked so calm. So quiet. Peaceful.

His arms were crossed across his chest, and his hands lay locked together. His eyes were closed, and his face was creased in an emotionless expression. He looked so different from the man Isaac had met in those tunnels not two days ago.

And yet, here he was. Comatose and laying cold before Isaac.

"X? Oh. . .god. . ." his hand danced lightly across X's cold skin. The life was there. X still breathed, but it was like talking to a wall. You didn't get a reply.

"Fight for us. You can hold on." he found himself saying before he could stop the words. He turned to leave now, trying to gather his thoughts.

He hadn't known X for very long. Hell, he hadn't known him for more than two days. But here he was, mourning over his coma and possible death?

_Shit, I feel like Shepard now. _He mused, much to his comical relief.

_Speaking of Shepard, he'll want to know about this._

* * *

"Sir-" Isaac cut himself off quickly "Shepard." he said, giving a crisp salute, to which Shepard signaled him to sit.

"You wanted to talk, so here I am." Shepard said, gesturing around the cabin.

"Have a seat. Make yourself at home. Drinks?" he asked, pouring himself a glass.

"Err. . .no thanks, sir." Isaac said, taking a seat at his customary place on the couch. Shepard shrugged and sat down on the bed once more, his customary spot across from Isaac.

"So, what is it this time?" he asked, and waited casually for Isaac to speak, his hands steeped on his knees as he leaned forward.

"It's about X. . ." Isaac began. He felt a pained expression come across his face. He hadn't realized the situation would escalate so quickly.

"He's in a coma. Doctor Chakwas has him in cryo to slow down the process, but the eezo is slowly killing him." he finished, glancing back at Shepard.

"I. . .haven't known him for more than two days, but here I am ready to help him? I've never felt this way before, Shepard. I was hoping you might tell me." he said, gazing into those emerald eyes that resembled his own.

"I think you're just learning to care about your crew. When you came back from Sanctuary, Kasumi told me that you had rushed into combat to save her life. You didn't think about this then?" he asked, looking back at Isaac now.

Come to think of it, he hadn't.

"No. . .I never considered it once. I guess it was because I had known her for. . .three days." he turned to look at Shepard now, who nodded slowly.

"It never occurred to me. . .not once." he breathed slowly.

"You've come to care for them. They're your crew, and as their commanding officer, you've become close to them, even if you don't realize it." he said, his emerald eyes solemn as he never once took his gaze from Isaac.

"What you're saying. . .makes sense." Isaac said, glancing at the fish tank and casting his gaze around him before moving on. There was something more important that he wanted to discuss.

"Shepard. . .I'm sorry. I. . .didn't mean to overreact, and I know I seem selfish and-" Shepard cut him off with a raised hand.

"No need to apologize, Isaac. There wasn't any harm done." he said, his gaze bearing no anger whatsoever.

Isaac believed him. Or, more rather, believed himself now. He had been trying to himself that nothing had been done wrong, that he had only acted under a misinterpretation. Now, hearing it from Shepard himself, he felt his mind had been cleared.

"Shepard?" he asked, his glance cast on the floor of the cabin instead of his Captain.

"Are we good?" he breathed, almost a silent whisper in the quiet cabin, the fish tank being the only quiet and constant humming to break the silence of them talking.

He didn't need to look at Shepard to see the expression of pain on his face.

"We never stepped away from 'good', Isaac. I told you already, there was no harm done." he said, repeating his earlier notion.

"Well, sure. But I just can't. . .I don't know. Maybe it's my paranoid self coming out in me again. I just feel like. . .like you don't mean what you say." he finished, immediately regretting letting the words slip from his mouth.

Shepard seemed to ignore the harsher intention of his words, nodding slowly.

"Well, I can understand that. With a past like yours, who wouldn't be like you?"

Isaac mused on this for a bit, letting the Captains words take effect over his mind, causing his thoughts to wander to his military days.

"You know, being on the Normandy has taught me something." Isaac said, turning back toward Shepard now.

"Oh? Besides the fact that the hormones fly like crazy?" Shepard said, and Isaac couldn't help but chuckle at this.

"No no. It's told me that, despite all my bad memories of the war, I have good ones too." he said, his tone becoming more silent and soft toward the end of his sentence.

Shepard nodded. He could also relate to that.

"There was a time on Rannoch where I took a Reaper head on. On foot." he looked into Isaac's eyes, who nodded now, remembering the news feeds.

"Yeah. You fighting out there gave us hope. It was nice to see that you were busy carving out a path for us to follow. Setting an example and then we just followed it. Though I don't think we ever took a Reaper down on foot." Isaac mused, looking back at the Captain, who was smiling now.

"It's nice to hear from a soldier first hand. Most of the people I heard it from were civilians." he said, remembering the wars now.

"Yeah. I remember the party we threw after we heard the news about the genophage and the turian/krogan alliance. You did some crazy shit out there. And we partied like crazy after each new vid. It was. . .nice. While it lasted. And it was nice to remember that we weren't just mindless killing machines. That we were still human. That we still had lives." his gaze once more fell to the floor, remembering those parties.

"Well, I'm glad most of your happy memories are centered around me." Shepard said, and then laughed afterward. Isaac couldn't help but laugh at this too.

"Yeah. I suppose a lot of them were centered around you or whatever crazy alliance you were brokering next."

"Well, now that I've talked your ear off, how about those drinks?" Shepard said in a casual tone, gesturing toward the bottle of liquor on the table. Isaac had never been drinking with someone before. He had always done it alone. But he found himself mouthing the word 'Sure' without actually saying it.

"Count me in." was his casual reply, and a wry smirk danced at his features as Shepard poured them some drinks.

_You have to take the time to enjoy the little things in life. _He mused, watching the Captain as he moved so casually.

_The little things. Huh. I hadn't thought of it like that._

* * *

He had retired to his chambers after the drinks, half drunk for the most part. He was, considering his first time drinking, getting better at holding his liquor.

Yet it still held some effect on him as he stumbled back to the Starboard Observation Deck, somewhat intoxicated.

He barely had more than five seconds (or what seemed like five seconds) to sit down before Joker's voice crackled over the comm.

"Isaac? Miranda asked to see you. Something about a 'medical mastermind'."

Isaac felt a sudden numbness at the mention of her name, but the words 'medical' and 'mastermind' helped to make him feel better, and he staggered out of the Deck, off to go find Miranda.


	13. Rai

_A/N -_

_Well, I decided to go for one last chapter for the heck of it. This one introduces another character that I've been waiting to introduce since I began typing this thing. I think you'll all come to love him well in the end. I'm not going to keep you waiting though. ;-)_

* * *

She was talking with Kasumi when he found her.

". . .It will need to be discreet. It's a highly fortified facility. It could have a million soldiers waiting for you."

Kasumi laughed at this, and spoke now, watching Isaac enter the room.

"Please. It can't be worse than Hock's vault." she said causally, her voice dancing with light humor, which seemed to enrage Miranda.

"How can you be so calm? This could be a desperate operation, and you're shrugging it off like it's nothing?" Miranda turned to see Isaac enter now, and she quickly turned to refuse meeting his gaze.

He ignored her snub for now. Unlike her, he remembered what they had done in those moments after he had kissed her.

"Talk to me." he said in his normal gruff tone.

"We've got a lead on something. It's a Cerberus fortress on Sanctum. Cerberus has a strong sway over financial affairs on the planet, and they maintain a high trade profit from piracy and slavers in the system." Miranda droned on, but Isaac was taking in more than just her information. She was, after all, still wearing that ridiculous cat suit that was so common of her.

"So we're playing thief then." Isaac said, gesturing toward Kasumi. "I guess that's why she's here."

Kasumi had other things to think about though. She was considering digging up a spare tactical cloak for Isaac. Maybe she could teach him a few things about stealth.

Maybe not, she mused thoughtfully, remembering his stunt on Sanctuary.

"We're going to play infiltrator, yes." Kasumi said, stating the word 'infiltrator' with extra emphasis.

Isaac only shrugged.

"Thief. Infiltrator. What's the difference?" he said casually, and then glanced at Kasumi, saw her look, and smiled.

"Kidding." he replied, knowing full well that she didn't like to be called a thief. It was 'Master Infiltrator' now. She had been a thief before, but she claimed that she wasn't now.

Isaac wasn't sure if he trusted her or not, but the matter was less concerning than this Cerberus fortress.

"So why should we go to Sanctum then?" he asked carefully.

"Because I know of a medical mastermind within Cerberus. Rai Mancini. He has the practiced wit and experience to help X. The Cerberus fortress could also have valuable information that we need. But you're staying behind. If you go in guns blazing, they'll cut you down in less than five seconds. We're sending Kasumi as our silent infiltrator." Miranda finished, taking in a deep breath.

_My methods were never really discreet. And as much as I hate to admit it, she does have a point. _Isaac thought with some rage. Recently, he had hated realizing she was right.

"Alright." he said with a sudden sigh that was meant to relieve the rage so close to bubbling over again.

"No, wait." Kasumi said, holding up her hands. "Isaac could use a lesson in stealth. Besides, we need you to come with us for the Cerberus codes, Miranda." she said, her tone removed of its humor and now showing her business side.

"You. . .have a point." Miranda said, sighing and glancing at Isaac, who was smiling proudly. She would get him back for that later.

"Just like the old heists. . ." Kasumi said out loud, rather than thinking it.

* * *

Sanctum was classified as a Garden world, but the word 'Garden' didn't mean freezing ice storms and towering snow capped peaks in Isaac's books. Of course, it was a grim testament to some old spacer adage he had heard somewhere before. _Just because it's a Garden world doesn't mean it's a picnic._

Sanctum had a breathable atmosphere, sure, but it was cautioned to wear a breathing mask at all times to avoid the carbon dioxide fluctuations in the atmosphere. To put it into mundane terms, as Miranda had said, the toxic gases in the air varied with all kinds of different stimuli on the surface. The area around the equator of Sanctum had some warmer temperatures and plant life, but, much to Isaac's disappointment, they weren't going anywhere near the equator.

The mask felt ridiculous on his face. It felt too big, too small here or there. He felt it would fall off at any moment, and expose him to lack of oxygen.

_If I die from suffocation, I'm going to kill her. _Isaac thought, to some humor, which brought a wry smirk across his face. He immediately regretted ever smiling, for the breathing mask dug farther into his skin, leaving marks that he was sure weren't going to heal. Another thing he would have to pay her back for later.

"So what we've got is Cerberus dug in strong. And we're sneaking in right below their radars, finding out what they're up to, and getting Rai to join us. Simple enough." Isaac said, shrugging. He hadn't faced missions like this before, but the whole outcome of the mission seemed easy enough when he said it like that.

Moments later, they were descending onto a 'discreet' LZ, but the only real thing that made it discreet was the fact that snow had covered all of it.

It felt odd to feel snow beneath his feet. It reminded him of home—Earth, where he had been born—but he had no time to think about this.

"Freezing ice storms ravage the planet most of the time." Miranda chimed in, her voice filtered through her breath mask.

"We'll need to move fast and get out as quickly as possible." she finished stepping up next to Isaac, who's eyes were laid on the facility ahead of them.

The AA guns on top were massive. They targeted anything that got close and ripped it to shreds. The turrets mounted on the ridges of the building prevented anything from getting close from the ground. And the auto-missile launching turrets mounted along the path leading up to the facility all made it look menacing enough. As if that wasn't bad enough, they had set up giant search lights just for effect, and these scanned the snowy landscape around the base for any signs of intruders.

"Huh. This might be harder than I thought." Kasumi said, gazing at the facility. She cloaked moments later.

"Alright. You two follow my lead. Once we find some unlucky soldiers, we can get you equipped to look like them. From there, we should be able to infiltrate this facility fairly easily." she said, her voice sounding calm and resolute.

"Kasumi? They have turrets." Isaac said, gesturing toward the many mounted guns lining the fortress.

"Pfft. They need to be manually operated. The only real problem is finding you two some armor so that those missile launchers don't blow you to smitherines." she said, gesturing at the snow covered guns mounted along the pathway. Isaac had to admit, she knew a fair bit about infiltration.

"Ok. I'll go find you two the stuff. Just stay here and stay low. If I'm not back in ten minutes, then get out of here." she said, her voice seemingly connected to nothing, though he knew she was only cloaked.

"Got it. We'll hold out here." Isaac said, crouching now and finding himself some warm spot against the heating pipes that ran the length to the facility. Miranda, to his surprise, crouched next to him, though he couldn't tell if this was simply because she had no other choice or for some other reason.

* * *

Kasumi Goto was a 'Master Infiltrator'. She had been a thief, yes, but she had quit her efforts after the Reaper Wars. She felt that stealing from people while there was-

Ok. So she hadn't given up on stealing. Still, she wasn't stealing anything valuable anymore.

Musing it over, that was also a lie.

She had made short work of the pair of unlucky guards who had decided to stray from the facility, and she was now heading back toward Miranda and Isaac, silently praying that they hadn't started fighting again. She was certain that if they had, this entire heist was a fail.

* * *

Miranda refused to speak to him.

Or, maybe it was he refused to speak to her.

Either way, they both sat in utter silence until Kasumi reappeared, nearly giving them both a heart attack. She held in her arms two Cerberus solider uniforms.

"Get dressed." she said simply, gazing at the sky. Night was falling. Those search lights might actually have some use in the darkness.

* * *

Infiltrating the facility once they had been disguised as Cerberus operatives made things much easier.

More importantly, he was glad to have to remove the breath mask from his face, instead replacing it with the Cerberus helmet. Miranda did the same. Kasumi was there somewhere next to him, though her cloak was on.

"Alright we only need to find-"

"Issac Black. Miranda Lawson. Kasumi Goto."

A voice came ringing across the small area they were in so suddenly that it shocked Isaac.

"Uh. . .how do they know our names?" Isaac whispered, turning to look at Miranda. He didn't trust her just yet. Something was too. . .convenient about this.

A man walked from behind a corner, walking casually and slowly, taking his time to do so. His face had the implications of Asian descent, but he also had the skin tone of an Italian.

"Rai." Miranda breathed, and Isaac looked at her, and then back to this new man.

"You're Rai Mancini?" he asked, to which the man nodded.

"The one and only. Self proclaimed medical genius, and deadly shot." he said, holding out his arms in a boasting gesture.

Kasumi uncloaked now, and there was a brief moment where Rai seemed to be. .studying her.

"Now then. How should I kill you?" he said, his tone changing so suddenly and fiercely to a cold and blunt voice that Isaac was sure they were dead now.

"Wait! We came to get you." Isaac said, the words slipping before he could stop them (again).

Rai seemed to find this humorous somehow.

"Oh? And why would that be, if I might ask?" he said, casually glancing at his hand, examining some non existent dirt.

"We need you to perform a special kind of surgery on one of our friends." Kasumi said, speaking up now.

"He's been infused with pure eezo. And it's slowly-"

"Slowly killing him off. And let me guess, he's in a coma right now?" Rai finished, angering Kasumi somewhat.

"Yes. So? What do you say? Will you help us?"

Rai seemed to consider it for a long moment, before finally shaking his head.

"No. Cerberus has much better pay than a simple job like that. So what if your friend dies? What does it mean to me?"

Isaac felt rage bubbling within him now, and Miranda laid a hand on his shoulder, but he ignored this gesture of comfort.

"Don't talk about him like that. X is a good man. And I'm sure you are too. You're just working for the wrong team." he finished, feeling the implications of his words would have the desired effect. Once more, Rai seemed to consider the proposition carefully.

"Hmm. Your argument is strong, but I'm not certain yet. However, I do trust you for now." he said, and a relieved Isaac let out a sigh of contentment.

"So you'll come with us then?" Kasumi asked, turning to glance quickly at Miranda and Isaac.

Rai nodded. "Yes. For now. I think it will be a nice change. It's much too cold for me down here anyway. Lets go."

Isaac turned to leave, but Miranda placed her hand on his shoulder again.

"Isaac, we can't leave without that data." she said simply. Isaac turned to face Rai, who was bouncing a small device in his hand.

"A graybox." Kasumi breathed. Isaac wasn't the greatest with technology, so he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Yes. And it has information that I'd be willing to share. If you can persuade me." Rai said with a thin smile.

Isaac only nodded back, turning to leave and the thought suddenly hitting him.

_That was the easiest infiltration mission I've ever done._

* * *

"He's going to be alright, though it will take time for the coma to wear off and for him to regain full control of his body. Other than that. . ." Rai waved an omni-tool over the comatose body of X.

". . .He's good. Just needs time to rest. Give him a few days and he should make a full recovery." Rai finished, turning to face Isaac and the others now.

Isaac let out the breath that he didn't know he was holding.

_X is going to be okay. That's. ..relieving._

"Good to hear. Thank you, Rai." Shepard spoke now, his voice standing out among the small group gathered to watch Rai perform his works.

Rai only shrugged. "It's much warmer up here. And you seem like nice people. Cerberus always had me working on one person or another. It's been a long time since I did a. . ." he searched for the right word for the surgery he had just performed on X ". . .liposuction."

Isaac cringed at the final word, but he was glad to see X breathing again, his skin retaining the color of a normal human again. His breathing wasn't light and weak. It was strong again, like he was resting. Simply resting. And the warmth had returned to his body, giving it back its flush tone instead of the pale white he had seen before.

"He's. . .going to be ok." Isaac said again, as if he himself couldn't bring himself to believe it.

Rai nodded again, patting Isaac on the shoulder roughly.

"Yeah. He's going to be ok. Though I have some. . .concerns as to why he had so much eezo in him." Rai said, glancing at the others.

"Cerberus was testing on him. We rescued him only. . .two days ago." Isaac said, looking down at X still. He looked visibly better, that was for certain, but the visions of the body he had seen before going to Sanctum kept replacing the current body.

_He almost died on my watch. Never again. I said the same thing about Kasumi. . ._

Isaac left the Med Bay in a disturbed silence, trying to gather his thoughts about being an XO. The others let him leave in silence, and they left Rai alone to become acquainted with Doctor Chakwas, who seemed utterly fascinated and enthralled to learn everything she could from this new medical mind.


	14. News

_A/N -_

_Poor X. I'm still deciding what to do with him (maybe you wonderful people could decide what happens to him!) but I decided for now that he's going to be a major life changer for Isaac. We've already seen the changes that it's had on Isaac since X was in a coma, but he's going to change Isaac in more ways then just that. Let me hear from you all out there! Right now, I'm flying blindly, just posting chapter after chapter in hopes that someone will give me a review. Heck, even if it's a criticism review, I'll still take it to heart! I'll keep typing chapters and keep posting them, but I need to hear from you to know if I'm doing the right thing! _

* * *

When he had finally separated Doctor Chakwas from Rai for more than five minutes, Isaac decided now was as good a time as any to talk. Rai was. . .intriguing. Something about the way he had so easily agreed to come with them and help them was interesting. Isaac intended to find out what his true intentions were.

"Rai, you got a minute?" he spoke now, casually leaning against the door frame of the med bay, his arms crossed across his chest, watching the genius work. Waving an omni-tool here, typing some things on the terminal here; it was truly amazing to watch him work. He also performed regular checkups on X, much to Isaac's surprise.

Rai seemed to notice him in the doorway, gesturing for him to come inside now as he continued his work.

"Sure. I got some time to talk. What did you have in mind?" he said, his tone casually quiet and normal, unlike the tone he had displayed when they had first met him on Sanctum.

Isaac glanced at the form of X, who was still hooked up to a heart monitor, along with some IV's and other machines that Isaac had no idea what the function of them were. Still, it helped his mind feel somewhat better with every soft _beep beep beep _coming from the heart monitor. X may have been making a recovery, but Isaac wouldn't feel clear headed again until X was up and showing off again.

Isaac nodded to the man now, with a somewhat worried look on his face.

"How's he doing?"

Rai glanced over his shoulder, back at X. He seemed to see something that Isaac didn't.

"He's fine. I just need to make sure he has the right amount of vitamins and minerals in him to help fight the coma. More surprisingly, I've never seen someone recover so fast from a coma induced through eezo exposure. He's. . .different, for sure. There's another thing I want to discuss with you, actually." Rai said, turning back to Isaac, who nodded slowly, dreading the next sentence.

"What is it?" he found himself saying somehow.

"X has an implant. It's in the usual position—at the base of the skull—but this implant is different." he stopped for a bit. He seemed to be searching for the right words.

"How so?" Isaac asked, taking a seat now, his eyes laying on the recovering form of X.

"The implant is directly attached to the brain through a series of tubes. I wasn't sure what these were for until I discovered their true purpose." he glanced back at Isaac now, "The truth is a bit. . .disturbing. Are you sure you want to know?"

He didn't need to ask. A curt nod from Isaac told him to go on. "There are four tubes, one for each hemisphere of the brain. What these tubes do is take normal chemical reactions from within the brain, taking those chemicals—energy, essentially—mixing it with eezo from within the tubes, and then fueling it directly into the implant. In other words, during the time that his brain undergoes chemical reactions, he will be. . .an unstoppable biotic." Rai glanced back at Isaac now, who's gaze was still focused on X.

"We're not using him as a tool. X is a friend. So, there must be some reason you were so concerned about the implant then." Isaac said, looking back to Rai now, who had a worried and pained expression across his face. Isaac felt his hands get sweaty and his skin seep with numbness again.

". . .Yes. The implant is taking whatever chemical reactions that happen within the brain, thus the rest of the systems within the body are being shut down slowly. Basically, X might never wake up from his coma unless we sever the connection of the tubes to his brain. However, this is a very. . .delicate procedure. If the surgery goes wrong in one single way, if something just so happens to alter the variables. . ." he glanced back at Isaac "We'll lose him for good. Right now, he's stable. But, like I said, he may never wake up fully from his coma. And even if he does, the body's system are slowly going to shut down until he's nothing but a vegetable."

Isaac couldn't help but feel dread at the news. So they had saved him from death by eezo, only to learn that his implant would cause him never to wake up? More importantly, if he did wake up, his body would slowly die from the inside until he was only a mindless husk?

"Can't we do anything for him, Rai?" Isaac found himself saying, unwilling to stop the concern from showing in his voice.

Rai seemed to consider it for a long time, before shaking his head carefully.

"No. I'm sorry, Isaac. I've given you your options. Undergo the surgery now, or wait for possible recovery. Even then, he's doomed for death in the end. . ." his voice trailed off as Isaac seemed to be focusing his thoughts on what X would want.

_I don't want him to die. But he's going to die anyway in the end if he wakes up. What would he want. . .?_

"Hold off on the surgery. We'll see if he makes a full recovery." Isaac said, letting the words voice his thoughts.

Rai nodded slowly. He could see the pain and fear in Isaac's eyes.

"I'm sorry, I got distracted by X. I meant to come ask you something." Isaac said, not meeting Rai's eyes, still staring at X.

"I'm game. Shoot." Rai said, his casual tone back now.

"Well. . .I don't mean to be rude. . .but didn't you change sides a little too quickly?" Isaac said, glancing at Rai who laughed now.

"No, not for me. Cerberus is dying quicker than you think. They all want to 'upgrade' themselves, hoping that they might survive the process, but they all come out as those mindless brutes."

"Beserkers." Isaac said, taking in the shock of Rai's news.

Rai nodded slowly. "Yes, I suppose that's a fitting name for them. Anyway, the pay sucked. I was always healing some petty bullet wound or something. It was never a lost limb or a man in a coma from eezo." Rai glanced at Isaac and met the pained expression in his face "Errr. . .sorry. Regardless, Cerberus approached me that morning asking me to go through the 'upgrade'. I told them I'd answer them later in the day. I knew that I didn't want to die, so it was a matter of luck that you happened to come along in time."

Isaac seemed to take this in slowly, nodding.

"Makes sense. But why help us then?"

Rai pondered this for a second before replying, casual humor gone from his voice. "Cerberus' goals are extreme. I never like having to complete procedures and surgeries that I knew were going to fail. But it was always at gun point, so I had no choice. Though, I don't think they would have shot me. They couldn't tell a scalpel from a bone saw." Rai chuckled at his own joke, before moving on, waving his hand "Anyway, so things got a little too far from me after they shot my assistant. Good kid. Had a bright future. Wasn't working 'fast enough' so they blasted him to pieces. I. . .never forgave them for that. I think I began to hate Cerberus from there on out." he took in a deep breath now.

"That enough for you?" he said, glancing back at Isaac.

Isaac nodded, smiling now. "Well, at least you're working for the good side now." he said, but Rai only shrugged.

"Good, bad, they're only views. The world is so black and white nowadays. It's either you work for the 'good' side, or the 'bad' side. But does the good side not do things looked upon as bad, and does the bad side not do things that can be viewed as good?" Rai replied, his voice laced with sudden curiosity.

"You're right. The Alliance has more dirty secrets then I can count. And I have heard that somewhere, somehow a long time ago, Cerberus used to do good things." Isaac mused, taking in the full truth of Rai's words.

"Exactly. So next time you start to think of good and bad, blur the lines a little and see if that helps to change your views."

He wasn't sure if he believed Rai yet, but the man obviously wanted to help them. At least for now. His words from Sanctum came back to him now.

"So what about this information on Cerberus?" Isaac asked now.

Rai seemed to glance back to his terminal now, lost in thought.

"I have vital information on Cerberus plans. I think that this could help us win the war they're trying to wage."

_War? Shit._

"War?" Isaac gulped, trying to remove the lump that had formed in his throat.

"Yes, war. They're intentionally recreating synthetics with the hope that they will become their slaves, like the geth with the quarians. The only problem is that these synthetics are rogue and shoot anything in sight. So some crazy mastermind came up with the idea 'hey, why not fuse these synthetics to ourselves!'. You saw where that got them." Rai said, glancing back at Isaac now.

"Yeah. Guess that didn't work out well." Isaac said, his voice lower than he intended for it to be.

"Cerberus is dividing itself in half. Some of them want to recreate synthetics. Some of them want to stop it all. We should try and recruit as many people who want to stop it as possible." Rai said, his gaze still on the terminal where the information waited.

"I'll keep that in mind. So, do we have any leads then?"

Rai scratched his head for a minute before shaking it. "No. Nothing. My information is just purely about the plans of Cerberus. However, there is a strange file that contains some number sequences. . ." he typed a few things on the terminal, bringing up a list of random number sequences on the screen.

"I haven't figured out what they're for just yet. They're obviously codes, but for what?"

"I think I can answer that one." came a crisp and clear voice. Isaac and Rai turned to see Miranda enter, holding something that resembled a graybox.

"Miranda?" Isaac asked, but she ignored his comment.

"They're the access codes for this information. The information that I picked up from Freedom's Progress is locked down with codes that I don't have." she said, now crossing the room to Rai's terminal.

"It's not the best lead we have, but it's worth a shot." she said, glancing back at the two of them.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Plug it in and lets see what we can find." Isaac said, his voice retaining that gruff and gravelly tone that was common of him once more as he somewhat eagerly awaited the news and somewhat dreaded hearing the news.


	15. Reconciliation

_A/N -_

_While this chapter may be shorter then the others, I think this was a needed one. It makes sense where I placed it. *Shrugs* It just seems like it fits here. Anyway, enjoy!_

* * *

He was alone again.

The silence was somewhat comforting to him, but he was too consumed over X to think about anything else.

_He's going to die either way. Or, could die one way. . ._

The surgery was too much to think about. If Rai even failed in the slightest, X would be gone. Then again, if he managed to recover from the coma, he would slowly die anyway.

"Isaac?" Kasumi's voice broke through the closed door. He looked up at the sound of her voice, and muttered a weak "Come in."

At his voice, she entered the room, carrying something. It looked like another graybox, and for a moment he thought she was coming to deliver Miranda's information to him, but he realized that she wasn't here to do that. It would take time to analyze the information they had gathered; there wasn't any way that it could have been done so soon.

"Isaac. . .I heard about X." she said, setting herself down in her usual spot while he remained on his bed, head in hands.

"How do you make that choice for someone you've hardly known?" he whispered, his voice breaking the thin silence that had spread across them.

"You know him enough to want to make that decision for him, Isaac." Kasumi said.

Her words gave him some comfort, but she wasn't completely swayed yet.

"I just. . .I feel _wrong _making this choice for him. I feel like I shouldn't have the power to decide this for him." he glanced up at her now, and she met the eyes of the tired man and saw an expression that she rarely saw on his face. Care. Concern.

"We've all come to adapt to him. Even if he did have his moments, X has become part of our family." she replied, her voice offering him some solace.

"Family?" he choked out, as if uttering the words might make him feel better.

"I never had a real family. To hear that now. . .it opens old wounds." he whispered, dropping his head into his hands once more.

"Isaac, you can't let this get you down now. You've always tackled everything head on and with a fiery attitude. What's so different about this?"

"That's the thing; I've never faced an enemy I couldn't strangle with my bare hands, or slash with an omni blade until blood covers me. This is. . .different. I can't tackle this with a head on charge. This is more of a delicate operation. I was never good with delicate operations."

He didn't meet her gaze, but she could hear the pain in his voice.

"They're counting on you, you know." she said, so quiet and light that he almost didn't hear her.

"Huh?"

"Us. The crew. We look up to you. Watch you. Follow your examples." she whispered, still in that low tone. He looked at her now, and saw sorrow in her eyes.

"I. . .I'm not sure if I'm a good example to follow." he said, and then cast his glance out the window.

"Isaac, you're a great leader. You're like Shepard, only with more of that. . .badass that he lacked. Not that he didn't have a badass personality-" she cut herself off, sighing, "What I mean to say is that he never had the feisty fire that you do. I guess that's what makes you so different. Otherwise, you may as well have been his brother." she replied, gesturing toward him now.

She was right. Now that he thought about it, it made sense to him. But there was something else that bothered him.

"I never once thought about it after you nearly died. I never once told myself that I shouldn't be mourning over you when I had known you for barely three days. And X went into a coma, and I just. . .let go. I found myself mourning over him but not you. . .and I hated myself for it."

Kasumi nodded before she spoke again. "I can understand that. In your shoes, I would have done the same. Though, more discreetly." she said, a thin smile dancing across her face. Seeing that smile on her face, he couldn't help but smirk too.

"So what's that?" he asked, gesturing toward the graybox on the table.

"This? It's my graybox that Shepard told me to hold onto. It has all of my priceless and personal memories. And secrets." she trailed off.

"Keiji?" Isaac asked quietly and she nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry, Kasumi." he whispered, his voice seeming to echo and magnify in volume in the silent room.

"You don't have to be." she said after a few moments.

"I'm happy with his memories. I still have him here. It's just. . .he's gone in the now."

"I. . .think I can relate to that." Isaac said, glancing at the bedside stand where Miranda's picture no longer stood.

"Yeah? Well, I'm happy for you, at least." he would have interjected, said that he was sorry, but she held up her hands "I don't want you to be sorry for me. I just want you to know that we're looking out for you. Alright? You're part of our family now, Isaac."

Her words echoed in his head like a bell ringing.

_You're part of our family now, Isaac._

"Thanks. . ." he trailed off. She looked at him now, her voice cracking with the effort as she said her next sentence.

"She still cares about you, Isaac. Even if you don't realize it."

It was a light whisper, barely audible, but the silence helped to magnify her voice.

"What was he like, Kasumi?" he asked, looking up at her now.

She seemed to think about it before smiling.

"He was. . .sweet. He had this outer layer of cocky and humorous, but he had a romantic side. He was devious too." she trailed off, the smile fading from her face as the first tears fell from her face. "He had this way of making you look toward him when he entered a room. And he always had this positive outlook on things. Always keeping his head high even when. . ." she trailed off, noticing Isaac next to her. He hugged her then, and she let the tears fade from her face in his embrace.

"Thank you." she whispered, and then promptly left, leaving Isaac alone to his own thoughts and worries once more.


	16. Surgery

_A/N -_

_This chapter was. . .interesting to type. I felt like Isaac did throughout this._

_I don't have a lot to say about this chapter other than that you're in for a good one. ;-)_

* * *

Two days had passed.

Two days where he had been thinking about it non stop.

Today was the day he had made his decision.

X would undergo the surgery. He was going to die anyway, even if he did wake up. It would be a much more painful, much more slow death. Isaac figured that if he did die in surgery (not that he wanted him to; he was doing everything possible to prevent this) then it would be a better death then having to wait out the pain of his body dying from the inside.

There wasn't much he could do.

He had informed Rai already that they were undergoing the surgery, and Rai had seen that look of determination on his face. He had known that Isaac would choose to do so.

Now, he was shopping for medical supplies.

Rai had given him a list of the vital things they needed. Granted, half these 'necessary tools' cost over 60,000 credits. Fortunately, he had enough spare cash to spend. Shepard had been kind enough to loan him some of his storage, but Isaac had secretly mailed those credits back. It felt wrong to be spending your Captain's money.

No. This was all his pay. And while it may have cost him a large amount, it was worth it in the end. He began to tell himself this more and more now as he completed the necessary shopping trips. He wasn't really one for shopping, but his shopping was more of walk to the front of the line, demand the supplies, and pay the amount he needed. He had no time to wait in lines while X died more every second.

X would survive. He hoped he would. _Can't second guess myself now. It's too late for that. _He thought, with some resignation at realizing this was it. There was no going back now.

The stores that he visited were all medical clinics, and had he had the free time to admire them, he probably would have found that they could teach him quite a lot about medicine, but Isaac could only focus on one thing right now.

His 'shopping' complete, he headed back to the Normandy, his head racing with panic and hope, his hands sweaty and clammy as he walked, his calm posture betrayed by the sheer look of pain on his face.

* * *

He hadn't wanted to make the decision. No one had. They had all sat it out silently, waiting for a miraculous recovery. They all had held onto some hope that he would just make a full recovery in the short time since he had fallen into his coma.

Isaac stood now, watching Rai set up the machines and things he had gotten from the stores. But he wasn't specifically watching Rai. He was more focused on X.

The color had returned to his skin in full. Now flush and pink like a normal human, X looked just fine in his coma. His deep and heavy breaths were a sign that he was in fact alive, and his hands clenched occasionally. Rai had said this was only a natural reaction, but Isaac liked to believe that it was more than that.

His fists were clenched now, turning his hands, fingers and knuckles white. Watching that white color, he remembered X from before they had cured him. He had fallen into a coma with that ghostly white color coating his entire body.

For the most part, X looked like X did. He only wore his simple black shorts, as usual. His shaven head was slowly growing back a thin coating of hair again, and the marks where there had once been glowing blue were now gone. Once more, Isaac thought of how much more human he looked. He was glad that they had rescued X from that base.

"We're ready to begin whenever, Isaac." Rai said, nodding to Doctor Chakwas, who stood next to him. It was a two man surgery. Doctor Chakwas had been shaking over it, but Rai and Isaac had convinced her that they needed her. The rest of the crew—including Shepard—had been eager to stay and watch, but Shepard had told Isaac to stay and watch and help how he could. They all waited outside though, waiting for the news.

He wondered if they felt like he did over this. Dreading the news. Fearing it. Hoping that he might survive. They had come to care for X too.

"Ok. Lets get this over with." Isaac said, glancing once more at the sleeping form of X. The soft _beep beep beep _from the heart monitor didn't ease his pain this time. Rai nodded, taking the first steps to prepare the surgery. The anesthetic that Isaac had bought for this was more than just normal. In fact, in some places, it was used as a powerful drug. But here it was meant to slow down the reactions of the body so that they could operate on him.

Isaac didn't watch as they worked, only sitting there gritting his teeth until they called his name for the first time. They had needed him to fetch something for him. He did so with a resolute calm, only once glancing at X's form. He regretted seeing what he saw, feeling the guilt of the fact that he had put X thorough this wash over him now.

"Isaac! We need another application of medi-gel, fast!" Rai's voice came to him now, and he clutched his fists together until they had turned that same white color that he had seen on X's.

He wasn't the best doctor. His hands were shaky as he directed the medi-gel to where they told him to apply it. It was painful to watch X in his current state. Yet, the man's soft and light breathing served to ease some of the guilt Isaac had piled up.

"Rai, he's losing blood! Heart rate increasing, vitals failing!" Doctor Chakwas said now, worry and concern seeping into her voice.

_Oh god. . ._

Isaac couldn't bear it. He turned away from the operating table, the adrenaline making every other noise fade from his mind. He heard them behind him, heard noises of moving and shuffling, and he thought that they had lost him for good. Would he have been able to live with the guilt of losing X?

". . .Another dose! Give him the sedative!" Rai's voice barked, and Isaac saw the man now, drenched in sweat. He still refused to look at X.

". . .Stable again. Vitals are normal. That was close." came Doctor Chakwas' voice now. They turned to look at Isaac, who was visibly paler.

"Is he alright?" he asked.

Rai shot a glance at Doctor Chakwas, his expression unreadable behind the mask he had on, before turning back to Isaac.

"He's going to be ok, Isaac. We did it."

* * *

He walked out in dead silence. Rai and Doctor Chakwas were performing some last minute tests and procedures, just to make sure they didn't lose X now. They also had to clean up what they had made.

He was, in all retrospect, surprised that the two had worked together so well. It was amazing to see them working in unison like that.

He hadn't noticed them looking at him, their gazes silent as they all held the same breath, waiting for the news.

Isaac let out the breath he was holding, moving out of the doorway of the med bay now to sigh and stand outside. He felt like he had just lifted a giant weight from his shoulders.

"He's going to be alright." he said, gazing at them one by one, meeting Miranda's eyes for the longest time.

"He's alive and well." he breathed, his voice echoing in the silence that fell on the group.

He saw the smiles spread across their faces slowly, casually, and then they all moved forward to peer into the med bay, coming back with some relief. Only Shepard remained silent, staring at Isaac and smiling. And, more shockingly, Isaac found himself smiling openly back at his Captain.


	17. Confrontation

_A/N -_

_Writing this chapter was one of my favorite moments throughout the story. In our last chapter, we know that X is alive and well. But we all know X too well to know he's not going to let this slide easily._

_The chapter title probably gives it away too._

_I have to say, this chapter is a dedication to Jack. The way her character is written, and after doing her loyalty mission in ME2, you humanize her. . ._

_Jack may be a hard ass, but she's an unforgettable hard ass. And I think X is somewhat like her, even if there are a few differences. _

_Well, here's the next part._

* * *

It had been two days since the surgery on X. He had been sitting there, waiting for the guilt to finally wash itself from him.

Not even a good shower or a fiery chat with Miranda had cured this film that had coated him now so openly.

It must have shown on his face too, for the others gave him looks of concern when he came for breakfast in the morning, or when he passed them by in the CIC.

He hadn't spoken much with them either, but part of him knew that X would hate him forever for this.

Rai and Doctor Chakwas had moved X to Life Support, now that there was no need for him to be in the Med Bay. Since then, as Shepard had informed him, X had woken up and was now throwing things around to make the room more homey to himself. He knew that they needed to talk, but they played this game of avoiding each other now.

_How do you face someone you made the decision to save, only to be yelled at in the end?_

The thought of it was too much. He could see himself already, going down to Life Support only to get his head smashed in.

X hadn't spoken with the rest of the crew either. He had been trying to keep himself separate from them as much as Isaac was keeping himself distant from the rest of them.

It was like they had both silently agreed that they were going to play a game of running around.

They both knew that they were going to have to confront this at some point, it was just a matter of waiting to see who would take the first move.

And, by all things, it made sense (at least in his mind) for Isaac to make the plunge. If Isaac was so selfish that X had to come and speak to him about it, then he figured he would be no better then Cerberus.

He knew X was angry at him. Shepard had made it very clear that Isaac had made the decision for him to undergo that surgery. And even though his life had been saved, he was still seething at Isaac.

_It's going to eat away at me until there's nothing humane left in me. I need to deal with this. Now._

That was probably his more fool-hardy and reckless side speaking for him, but Isaac felt himself agreeing with this side, for once.

_No. I'm better than Cerberus. _Came his grim thoughts as he gathered the courage to go face X. He found himself washing his face with cold water, and he thought he could see the guilt fall from his face as he stared at himself in the mirror.

* * *

To say that Isaac was nervous was an understatement. He was more than nervous. In fact, he was dreading confronting X.

More than that, he could hear the sounds of banging and clashing even out in the hallway.

His hands were once again clammy, but he somehow found the courage to clear his throat, take in a deep and shuddering breath, and knock on the door.

The sounds immediately subsided at the first knock, and a voice that he hadn't heard for so long muttered, in a rather angry tone, "Come in."

When Isaac walked through, he was sure the look of sudden surprise and then pure rage on X's face meant that he wanted to kill him. But X didn't hurt him. Not yet, at least.

"You." was all the man said before turning around, pacing to the other end of the room and slamming his fist into the wall.

"X. I see you're alive and well." Isaac found himself saying.

"Alive, but not well." X replied, his fist still resting on the wall.

"I'm less then well. I feel like shit. And I know why" he turned to look at Isaac now, the blue field around him signaling he was flaring his biotics.

"It was because of _you._" he said the last word with some great emphasis, throwing a finger pointing directly at Isaac. Isaac found himself somehow calm despite the fact that X could kill him in a million ways in less than a millionth of a second.

"I did what I thought was right for you-" Isaac began, but he was cut off.

"Oh, that's just fucking lovely. So you took away the one thing that signified me, huh? The one thing that defined who I was on this world?" X said, the rage building in his voice.

Isaac remained calm, somehow. He hadn't thought of it like that, but then again, you couldn't get inside the mind of someone else so perfectly as to anticipate every single move or reaction they could have to your actions.

Isaac had hoped for a slightly better reaction then the current one X was showing him, but he had also anticipated this outburst. He had just expected it for different reasons.

"When Rai told me that you were going to die if you woke up anyway, I had to decide, X." Isaac breathed, his voice silent and strong, compared to X's loud and raging one.

The man threw up his arms in frustration now. "That warms my heart so fucking much that you took away everything from me! Everything!" he shouted the word again and flared his biotics, launching a sphere of energy at Isaac that diverted at the last moment.

Isaac still remained calm, somehow.

"Would you have preferred to die a slow and painful death? Would you have wanted to die at all?" Isaac said now, and was glad to see the reaction calm X down somewhat.

"No. . .I never thought that. . .I know I might have died either way, but tell me this. If you had nothing left in your life but one thing that made you a freak among others, wouldn't you want to hold onto that thing, no matter how much pain it caused you?"

The man's voice was solemn and quiet now, and he leaned on the table at the far end of the room, refusing to meet Isaac's gaze.

". . .Yes. I would. But if I was going to die from it, if the others around me who cared about me we're going to suffer because of it, I wouldn't want it." his gaze met X's, and Isaac noticed that the man's eyes also looked normal now. Instead of their glowing white with blue rims like a husk, that glow had retreated to his inner iris', with his eyes now retaining the whites and blacks of normal eyes. Once more, Isaac felt sudden relief wash over him at seeing the changes that X had undergone since they had rescued him.

X stared at him for a long time before removing himself from the table.

"The memories. . .they came back to me. I remember some things. There are a lot of things that are still foggy." his voice softened now, and he turned, facing away from Isaac.

"I remembered my childhood for the first time today. I remembered growing up in a loving family. They killed them all. Why am I the only one who survived? Don't you see?" he said now, his voice pained and turning to face Isaac "I had no one to share these pains with. Nobody. And then you all come along and. . ." he trailed off, slamming a fist into the table, making Isaac cringe as he saw the first tears fall from X's face.

"Dammit. I don't know how to deal with this anymore. I lost the one thing that made me different. The one thing that defined me, even if it was killing me. My biotics are weaker now. Hell, I look like a normal person again. I didn't want this. I don't want to deal with this. I was so used to being. . .different from everyone. Now you cure me and expect me to fit in by myself?" he asked, glancing back up at Isaac, his eyes wet with tears still. "You can't just meld into a society that's alien to you."

"No." Isaac said, with some calm and strength as he walked forward now. He stopped in front of X, not losing his gaze once.

"You're not in this alone. There's an entire crew out there ready to help you deal with this." he paused for effect before going on "You may have lost one family, but you have another that's willing to welcome you with open arms, X." he finished, and he could see the sudden. . .shock on X's face.

"I. . .I don't know what to say." X replied, his tone quiet as he cast his gaze downward. But Isaac laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Just say you'll try. For us. Please, X. We want to help you, but we can't unless you let us."

X gazed up at Isaac one more time, studying the man he saw looking into his own eyes, and then nodded wearily.

"Ok. I'll try. Just. . .I need some time alone." he said, turning and walking to the back of the room, leaving Isaac to exit in silence. Just before he left, however, Isaac heard X speak to him one more time.

"Thank you, Isaac." he whispered, his voice barely audible, only heard in the silence that had followed their conversation. Isaac felt he didn't need to respond to this. He had fixed things between him and X, and X was going to become a part of the family from now on. He made a mental note to chalk this up on the list of things he never thought he could accomplish before.


	18. Need

_A/N -_

_This chapter is solely between Miranda and Isaac, for the reason that it's time they confronted their feelings, even if they end up in a fight over them. When I typed this at first, I laughed at the first part, and then it comes out to be a sad and touching chapter for these two. And it only serves to add to the angst building up between them._

* * *

"Was it worth it?" was his first question. She glanced once more at the information they had found. What they had recovered.

"Yes. This is vital to us. It tells us that Cerberus is divided down the middle."

This was no shock to him. His conversation with Rai had told him that much.

"Alright. So lets find these Cerberus cells that are against the idea and get them on our side." he said now, his hands clasped together as he carefully leaned against the door frame.

"It's not that simple." she stated plainly, as if he didn't realize that. Seeing his expression, she went onward. "I mean it's not going to be easy to find them. The cells that do want to recreate the synthetics are far outnumbering the ones who don't and they have superior firepower and tech."

Isaac mused this over for a long while before speaking again.

"Well, it hasn't been easy so far. This seems like the first step in the right direction for us. We've been flying blind mostly until now. Now," he paused to take in the glance she was giving him, "Now, we have something Miri."

She still hadn't gotten used to him calling her that, but she ignored him for now and went on, pulling up another file that showed more of the information she had recovered.

"Well, if we're going to get them on our side, we'll need to first find these cells. As a long term plan, I think we should start building a team suited for a mission to assault the final base. When we find it."

Looking at her now, typing at her terminal, he remembered the reason he had loved her. She never said 'no' to something. You gave her tools and resources, and she worked to the best of her efforts—no, even greater than that—to make sure she accomplished whatever she had started.

She seemed to notice a wry grin that had spread across his face, though the expression was wiped from his face moments later.

"Alright. Find me them. Get me info on whoever you think we should recruit for this. And, more importantly, find me those cells."

She nodded firmly at this and began to type, but he didn't leave. She glanced up, her eyes meeting his in a moment that he wished could have been drawn out for longer than it was.

"There's work to do, Isaac. No time for personal feelings." She began to type again, but she muttered "Not that I have any." under her breath.

She seemed to notice that grin spreading across his face again, and she sighed heavily, rolling her eyes.

"What do you want, Isaac?"

Isaac moved into her small office now. It was nice to have her office, conveniently, on the same deck as his room. He smiled at the notion.

"Get that ridiculous smirk off your face and leave me to work already, Isaac." she said, looking up at him now. Her eyes rolled again as he crossed the room, not saying anything but aggravating her all the more.

"Just tell me what you want already." she said, unable to focus on her work any longer.

"Come now. Surely those wounds must have healed by now. . ." he said, his voice smooth and casual now. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Isaac Black, are you trying to seduce me?"

He smiled thinly at the notion, though he didn't confirm if this was his intention or not. Instead, he placed his hands on her shoulders now, rubbing them to ease the tenseness that had gathered there. She didn't flinch at his touch, surprisingly.

"You need to relax a little. Take some time away from work to enjoy the little things in life." he said, his breath a silent whisper down her neck. She shivered at this, the motion sending chills down her spine and causing her to jerk away from his touch now.

"Hey, hey hey. . ." he soothed, moving to place his hands on her shoulders again, but she jerked away from him, standing now.

"I already said no, Isaac. What makes you think you can change my mind?" she said, alert to his every movement.

He didn't move to hug her or kiss her or drag her to bed this time. Though she had let him do that last time, she wasn't about to let herself be dragged off to bed this time.

"I don't need to change your mind about something you want." he breathed silently, his voice in that same tone that made her crave his touch on her skin.

"Isaac, you shouldn't be-" she was cutoff suddenly by him moving across the room and laying his hand on her shoulders again, this time looking down at her. He wasn't that much taller than her, but she still had to look up a little to meet his eyes. Those eyes that had melted her heart so long ago. . .those vibrant and fiery seas of deep green.

"You want this." he whispered, breathing onto her neck now. He pulled her close to him, making her spine tingle with chills as he breathed into her neck, kissing as he did so.

"You remember this, don't you Miri?" he whispered, each word causing her to feel those chills. She didn't pull away from him though.

"Isaac-" she began, but she was cutoff by a soft a silent 'shhh' from him as he continued his trail, up her neck, carefully touching each new patch of skin with his lips so softly and leaving a trail of chills in his wake. She found herself grasping him firmly in her grip, her hands tightening around his muscular shoulders now.

"Isaac. . ." she said, in that way that made his heart swell at hearing it. She wasn't complaining now. He continued his ascent, whispering softly into her, taking his time as he did so as to build the suspense. He was at her cheek now, and she could feel his breath tingling her ears, sending chills all the way across her scalp. She craved more of it.

"Miri, you can't fight it anymore. You know you want this." he repeated, smiling now as he made the final journey to her mouth. She didn't jerk away at his touch like before, but yet rather craved more of those chills he was causing across her body right now.

The ascent was done, and now he moved to pull her into a deep kiss, much like the one he had pulled on her right before they had had their. . .misadventure. Neither was really sure how to define their 'happy accident' yet.

She resisted him at first, but felt his breath on her neck again as he began the ascent again, this time taking considerably less time to to reach her mouth. She gazed into those eyes of his and saw only a love wishing to be reunited with its counterpart, and she couldn't bring herself to love him back. Not yet. She pulled away from him, taking herself from his grip and shuddering with the effort.

"Hey, Miri. . .relax. . ." he whispered, his voice still cool and calm as he stepped forward to embrace her again, but she only backed away from him.

"Isaac, I. . .don't want this." she found herself saying, the words betraying the craving she had felt only moments ago in his arms.

"I'm sorry, Isaac." she said, glancing at him now. If he hurt from the rejection, it didn't show on his face. He only stared blankly back at her, nodding.

"Alright. I didn't want to rush things, it's just that. . .I wanted to take the time to remind myself what we were." he cast his gaze over at the wall, before returning it to hers. "What we could be again." he whispered, almost to himself.

"Isaac, don't do that to me." she said, her voice laced with pain at rejecting him now. She had, after all, wanted it. She wanted every last thing again, but there was too much pain between them now.

"I get it, Miri. You need time." he walked back toward the doorway, and she found herself grasping for his shoulder again, waiting to feel that muscular frame but coming up with air. A sorrowful expression was on her face.

"Just. . .when you're ready, I'll be waiting." was his final reply before he left her alone in her silence, forced to recover from the craving he had left on her. It wasn't just a craving at this point. It was a need. And, right now, she needed him more than anything else in this world.

She sat back down in her chair in her office, glancing after the man she loved, and began to type once more, burying herself in her work to distract herself again.


	19. Drinking

_A/N -_

_This chapter is another 'unwind' one before we get back into the action of things. I thought of waiting to post new chapters until I have more than one, but then decided that if you all are waiting so eagerly, why keep you waiting more? Well, the next installment is out now._

_Without further delay~_

* * *

He was almost grateful to be alone, though he wished he had found something else to occupy his time.

Once more, he sat on the bed of his chamber, looking out the window. Sometimes, gazing into that sea of stars made him feel nostalgic of home. And his thoughts drifted to Earth, to the Citadel, to his bar.

_It's been a while. Might have to take some shore leave and see how he's doing with it._

He hadn't put the picture back on the stand yet, but he was remembering the good memories he had of her while he tried to wipe whatever smug move he had pulled on her from his mind.

The look in her eyes. . .the way she didn't flinch. . .he had thought she was going to accept him openly then. He had been too much of a fool to realize that she was slowly coming around.

He had rushed things, and he felt bad for it. Though going down to her office just to say 'I'm sorry' seemed childish. So, he did the only thing that he thought would wipe his mind from the memory. He got up and went to talk with X.

* * *

"How are you feeling?" he asked in a low tone as he entered. X didn't slam his fist into the wall this time, merely shrugged and sighed heavily.

"Liara came by earlier. She. . .gave me something. I told her thank you, and then she left with a smile on her face." he stated plainly.

Isaac couldn't help but grin at this. "Oh? What did she give you?"

X gave him a hard and cold look, and Isaac only laughed more.

"It's not funny. I think she was making a move on me."

To this, Isaac shook his head.

"No. Our Shadow Broker friend is bonded to the Captain."

X seemed to laugh at this.

"Bonded to him, huh? What is that like, asari terms of marriage?"

Isaac found himself laughing with X, and it felt good. It had been quite a few days before he had shared a good joke with someone.

"Actually, X, I was hoping you'd be interested in drinking with me." Isaac said, pulling a bottle from behind him. X studied the liquor bottle before snatching it from him.

"You have good tastes." he said, pouring himself a glass of the liquid and then tossing it to Isaac, who fumbled to catch it.

"God, it's been ages since I had good alcohol. This," he paused to take a drink, then gestured at the glass, "Is good alcohol."

It was nice to see X smiling and sharing drinks with someone, even if that someone was Isaac. He was getting accustomed to letting them into his life.

"How about a drinking contest?" Isaac suggested, and a thin smile spread across X's face as he gestured for the man standing in the doorway to come sit at the table.

"Now you're talking my style. So, what's the bets then?" X asked, still smiling that wry smirk at him.

_Bets? _He probably should have studied up on drinking games before this. Once more, he found the words slipping from his mouth.

"If you win. . .then I have to take Miranda out on a date. If I win. . .then you have to take Liara out on a date."

X laughed at this heartily, then nodded.

"Game on, Black. Sit down and lets get this going."

He had already taken the first shot by the time Isaac had sat down, but Isaac wasn't about to let this man show him up.

He took his first shot, while X watched him, the beginning effects of the alcohol starting to take sway over him.

X moved like a hawk. The next shot was already down by the time Isaac had it halfway to his mouth. They drank for a while before coming up on their twentieth shots each.

The liquid was becoming progressively harder to pour into the glass, and Isaac didn't realize he was missing half of the brown liquid's mark. He took his twentieth shot, only to see X on his twenty first shot. The man smiled a thin and drunken smile that wavered and swayed in Isaac's vision.

"Giving. . .up. . .yet, Black?" X gurgled out, though his voice sounded as drunk as Isaac's.

"No. . .way in hell." he mumbled, taking the twenty first shot. There was a brief moment where he decided he could beat X at this game, but perhaps out of pure respect for the man, he dropped the glass and said. "Alright, you. . .win."

X laughed at this, a sound the reverberated through the room, causing Isaac to shudder. His vision swayed, rotated, and then went black.

"Unnnnhhhh. . ." was probably the first thing uttered from his mouth. After a night of drunken dreams, he wasn't ready to wake up.

His eyes opened slowly, and saw the bright white lights above him.

_Shit._

"I'm impressed." came that commanding voice, "You managed to handle twenty one shots before passing out. That's a record on this ship, though you'll never beat mine."

Shepard came to stand near him now, looking down at him, and Isaac reached a hand to his head, groaning with pain.

"What's. . .your record, sir?" he hiccuped out, his voice laced with pain and the head splitting headache he had right now.

"Forty two." Shepard proclaimed proudly, and then Isaac only laughed, immediately regretting ever laughing after that.

"Someday. . .I'm gonna take you on. . ." he mumbled, but Shepard only gave him a pat on the shoulder, chuckling.

"Someday, maybe. For now, you just need to rest. Miranda wants to see you as soon as you can walk without stumbling over everything."

_Miri? Shit. She's gonna see me like this. . ._

"Aye aye, sir. . ." Isaac groaned, rolling over in the bed to look out the windows into the Crew Decks.

"Well, Shepard may be impressed, but I'm not."

This was a more stern voice now. Rai's voice.

"The amount of alcohol in your blood is near lethal. If you had been drinking for even ten more shots, you would have serious problems right now."

Isaac waved a hand, sitting up carefully, and massaging his forehead.

"I'm fine. . .I'm fine. Seriously, don't you ever drink?"

Rai considered this for a long moment, before shaking his head.

"No. Not once. Not ever."

Isaac shook his head, also immediately regretting doing it this time too.

"Someday, we're going to get you drunk."

Rai only laughed at this, a sound the split through Isaac's headache again.

"I'll keep that in mind. Now then, you're all set to go, just take these supplements, one every hour, and you should be good by the end of the day."

He handed Isaac a bottle of pills that looked like small white discs, who simply shrugged and took two of them promptly.

Rai began to protest, but Isaac got up promptly and left.

"What have you got?" he asked so suddenly that she nearly jumped from her chair. God, did he not even knock anymore?

"What I have, Isaac, is a location on a group of Resistance soldiers." she stated simply. Isaac looked confused, and he scratched his head.

"Resistance soldiers?"

She sighed heavily, rolling her eyes. "The Cerberus soldiers against making new synthetics. They're the Resistance." she finished, looking at him now. She could swear he had been drinking last night, but she didn't dare to ask him. He was fine right where he was in the doorway.

"Interesting. Ok. Where are they?" he replied, his voice gaining back some of the gruff and gravel that was his common tone.

"They're on Benning. But we'll need to hurry, and now."

"Why's that?" he asked, suddenly curious in a way that infuriated her somehow.

"Because Benning is constantly at war with itself. A group of civilians has also divided down the middle and is fighting a ruthless and bloody war. Not to mention that Cerberus is most likely picking off small groups of them one by one. Somehow, a group of rogue Resistance soldiers fled to Benning, and now Cerberus is hunting them down."

"And civilians are caught in between." he said silently, and she nodded solemnly.

"Lets move then. Off to Benning." he said quickly, turning to leave, but she called after him.

"Isaac, wait!"

He turned to see her stand next to him, and pull him into a tight embrace. She put her head next to his, and planted a soft kiss on his cheek.

"Be careful." she whispered, before turning, red-faced, back to her office and leaving him alone with his smile. She was coming around, even if it was slower than he'd like it to be.


	20. Aaron

_A/N -_

_The updated chapter, with fixes and changes. Some of you may not even see these changes, but the previous version of this chapter was riddled with untimely spaces and errors everywhere. Being the person I am, I simply deleted the document and made a new one. Hopefully, this one fixes all of the problems the other one had. Enjoy~_

* * *

Benning was a stunning view from the shuttle. Or, maybe that was because the liquor was still wearing off even now.

X and Rai were with him this time. He figured he needed to mix things up a little, get everyone a chance to go with him. It was interesting to have a squad of people he had recruited.

"So what we have is a two way war waging down here." X said, leaning forward now. The man seemed to have recovered from their drinking game well.

"Yeah. The civilians are waging a war, and somehow our Cerberus cell ended up here, drawing the other cells to them. So expect it to be a ground war." Isaac said, still glancing at the view of Benning.

At least when they said Benning was a garden world, they meant it. At least it had sunshine and warm climates. He shivered, remembering Sanctum.

"So, what's our objective?" Rai said, leaning against the wall of the shuttle as he checked a pistol now.

"Get in, find ourselves that cell, and get out." Isaac stated simply, but X intervened.

"What if we can convince the civilians to help us fight too? They already have firearms and power, they just aren't targeting the right people."

Isaac considered this for a long moment.

"No. We won't make them fight for us. They're untrained and unorganized. What we really need are loyal and trained soldiers for our army."

"Army, huh?" Rai replied, putting the finishing touches on his pistol.

"I guess you're planning to wage a full out war then." X breathed, sighing with the effort, and Isaac was inclined to think that the man was in fact still recovering from their little game.

"We don't have much of a choice. If Cerberus recreates synthetics. . .there's no telling what they'll do with them. They could be trying to make the Reapers again." Isaac said, voicing the thought that was on all their minds. Nobody said anything after that, only riding in complete silence until Steve spoke.

"LZ looks clear, but I'm getting a lot of movement somewhere close ahead. Could be an active firefight."

Isaac nodded, opening the hatch to the shuttle, and jumping out. The shuttle was gone after X and Rai finished their descents, and Isaac moved forward at a quick pace now, shotgun ready and raised.

_It's all just routine now. . ._

The sounds of gunfire could be heard from somewhere far away. There was gunfire, sure, but there was also screaming.

"Hold up. That doesn't sound like Cerberus." Isaac said, crouching behind a crate now.

A civilian came running out from behind some more crates ahead. She was unarmed, and wore plain and simple workers clothing. She kept running, but tripped and fell to the ground, her foot caught on something. A Cerberus soldier, clad in that ridiculous armor, appeared to follow her moments later. The woman gasped and tried to crawl from her snagging, but the soldier ended her life with a single bullet, causing Isaac to feel a sudden sorrow.

X wasted no time, flaring his biotics almost instantly. He stood from the cover they had taken, to meet a stunned Cerberus soldier with a head on charge. One second, X had been next to them. The next, he was standing next to the soldier and pounded the ground with his fist, sending out a blue shockwave around him that decimated the one soldier. He breathed heavily afterward, turning back to Isaac and Rai who were next to him now.

"I. . .couldn't do that before." he muttered, shaking himself and falling in line behind Isaac again.

"Well, just remember that you're human, even if you are one hell of a biotic." Isaac muttered, causing X to laugh a bit.

"Enemies ahead!" Rai whispered fiercely, and once more the trio ducked into cover. X was about to stand up and show off some more, but Isaac held him back, pointing at the soldiers stationed here. They hadn't noticed them yet, though they were on raised catwalks above them. There were four of them in total, each with their backs turned.

"They have sniper rifles. If you get up now, they'll have a clear and direct shot at you. Let us handle this one." Isaac whispered to a more than disappointed X, and then turned to Rai.

"Rai, you see those pipes?"

The doctor gave a quick nod, and then the pieces came together.

"You want me to lure them under those, don't you?"

Isaac nodded, smiling. "Precisely. Can you do that for me?"

Rai seemed to consider this for a moment before nodding. "Seems easy enough." he said, and the moved from around the cover, carefully taking his time to place himself beneath the pipes. The catwalk above his head was littered with Cerberus troops, each armed with a deadly precision weapon.

"I'm in position." Rai whispered to Isaac from his spot underneath the pipes, and Isaac gave him the go through, then turned back to X as he started the distraction.

"X, I need you to throw down a Statis when they get close. When they see those pipes about to blow, they'll start to run. Can you handle that?"

X nodded, and then Isaac was up from cover moments later, glad to see the squad of soldiers funneled together near the explosive pipes. Now if he could just. . .he fired, his bullet hitting the metal with a _cling._

X was ready at this sound, throwing down a Statis between the startled soldiers as the pipes flamed and burned. Moments later, there was a foul smell of burnt something in the air, and charred bodies littered the ground.

"Ok, lets move up-" Isaac was cut off by the sound of a huge metal crash. That must have been the catwalks falling. Even better.

"Rai! You alright?" Isaac whispered, and got a fierce nod from the man ahead of him. Isaac skirted around the cover now, rejoining Rai with X behind him.

"There's more ahead. Looks like armed civilians. Though they might be that Resistance cell we're looking for." Rai whispered to Isaac, who nodded, peeking over the cover and narrowly avoiding a bullet to the head.

"Shit! They have snipers. X, can you take care of them?" Isaac asked, turning to the man now, who smiled, thinking about taunting Isaac over not letting him face the snipers before.

He stood from cover, somehow avoiding a direct shot to his skull, and threw a Pull at the sniper, dragging the hopeless soldier into the air, from which the other fire took him down.

X crouched again, and shrugged.

"Well, I took care of them, but they know we're here now."

He could hear the footsteps coming toward him, the breathing of these people. A terrified people.

Moments later, cold metal guns poked at the necks of each of them, and they dropped their weapons carefully.

"Wait! We came to find you!" Isaac said, trying desperately to avoid meeting his end now.

The one who had a gun pointed at him glanced to his two other squad mates.

"You're. . .not Cerberus?" one woman spoke, looking at them now.

Isaac shook his head.

"We're here to find you and get you out of here. We need you for a war we're going to wage."

They didn't seem to take this news lightly, but the trio removed their guns from their necks.

"Alright. Come with us. He'll want to see you."

The trio wasn't used to being hostages. Or maybe that was just X.

He glared at the soldier who had him at gunpoint, the blue mass effect fields glowing around him, until she had run off somewhere.

Isaac couldn't manage to scare off his captor, but he didn't mind. X was X. He was meant to be intimidating.

Isaac was more worried about meeting this man who they only called 'him' and 'he'.

"Where are you taking us?" Isaac groaned, feeling the restraints tight against his wrists. They had disarmed them all of their weapons after entering the base.

They walked down a long metal hallway now, with an ominous looking large door at the end of it. Their captors refused to answer to them, though.

He contemplated knocking his captor out, but decided to play nice, even if it wasn't his style.

The large door opened when they reached it, and the trio was thrust inside and brought to their knees at gun point.

"Sir," Isaac's captor, a bald man with a long and shaggy beard, spoke "We found these three around our perimeter. They look like Cerberus, but claim they aren't."

There was a chair ahead of them in this room, a large and black chair. A voice spoke to them from behind the chair now.

"I see. That will be all, Shrenk. Leave now."

"Uhh. . .yes sir." Shrenk, Isaac's captor, said and then promptly left with the other woman who was Rai's captor.

The man in the chair turned around now to face them, and Isaac nearly did a double take.

"Aaron?!" he breathed, shocked to see this man now.

Aaron was a thin framed man. He wasn't very tall, nor was he very short. He was somewhere in the middle. He had loose brown hair that was cropped lightly on his flush skin, with pale blue eyes and a visible scar running down through his left eye.

"Isaac Black. Some joke this must be. I thought you had died in the war." Aaron spoke now, and Isaac turned to look at X and Rai, who were thoroughly confused.

"Aaron Nenson. He and I go way back. Way back to the mercenary days."

Aaron nodded at this, examining his hands carefully as if to remove dust or dirt from them.

"Yes. Mr. Black and I are well acquainted. And your two companions are. . .?" he waited for Isaac to reply.

"X." X breathed, in a low growl.

"And Rai Mancini." Rai replied, his voice also low. Something wasn't right here.

"I. . .see. Interesting companions you keep, Isaac. I thought you worked alone."

Isaac struggled with the bindings on his hands again. Something was off. This wasn't the Aaron he remembered.

"Aaron, what's going on here?" he asked, speaking the only question he thought he could ask.

Aaron only gestured around him and the plush office they were in.

"I'm leading the Resistance. What else?" he said, looking back to Isaac now.

"You're leading these people?" Isaac whispered, his voice giving off some of the shock showing on his face.

To this, Aaron nodded once more.

"Yes. And those Ceberus soldiers really are getting on my nerves. So, what brings you here, Isaac?"

"We're recruiting you to help us fight a war we're going to wage against Cerberus."

Aaron seemed genuinely shocked at this, though X could have sworn the reaction was faked.

"Something's not right here, Isaac. . ." the man whispered, to which Isaac only nodded, listening to Aaron.

"You're waging a war? Christ, you really have changed."

Isaac once more struggled with his bonds. Aaron should have released them by now.

"Yes. I'm waging a war to stop this madness. If Cerberus recreates synthetics, then the entire galaxy is going to end up in a war. We're trying to stop it before it becomes too big."

Aaron considered this for a moment, before nodding.

"An honorable goal. But can you win it, I wonder? Or are you doomed for failure?"

Isaac found himself speaking before he could shut his mouth. "We can try." he said, his voice resounding in the silence that followed.

"Hmm. Very well. I will lend my support to you in your goal. We have a common enemy here. However, know that there are more of my cells out there. If you want us at full strength, you'll need to track them down and rescue them. Leave it to me to coordinate them."

That sounded more like the Aaron he had known. Aaron had always been more of a leader than a soldier.

"I can do that, so long as you can find me those cells. Also, you'll need to come with us. It's not safe for you here anymore. You can coordinate the army from our ship."

Aaron seemed appalled by the idea at first, but what Isaac had said made sense to him.

"Fair enough. Let us go then."

X glanced once at Isaac, and then back at Aaron. There was a look of distrust on his face. Rai sported the same expression.

"You'll need to get us out of these bindings first." Isaac said, his hands struggling to feel that rush of blood flow to his fingers.

"Oh, yes. Such brutes, they are. Come now." Aaron said, his voice so calm and. . .edgy. He cut their bindings now, and then motioned for them to lead the way back to the ship.

"He's. . .different than what I remember." Isaac said, glancing at Aaron now, who was talking with Shepard.

"More. . .edgy then usual." he went on, glancing back at Miranda who stood next to him.

"I've heard of him since his joining with Cerberus. But to see him as the Resistance leader? Something is off here, Isaac." she finished, blatantly stating his thoughts.

He nodded slowly, watching the man walk off and Shepard walk over.

"Captain, sir." Isaac said, giving a quick salute while Miranda walked off.

"Aaron tells me that you and him go way back. Though I would keep an eye on him. Something is a little fishy here." Shepard said quietly.

Isaac nodded, staring after Aaron.

"Already on it, sir." he whispered, walking past the Captain with a sinking feeling of dread in his gut.

_Aaron was a friend once. Why would he act so suspicious now?_


	21. Deceit

_A/N -_

_I decided to go ahead and make a story arc. This one contains three chapters, and yes-each of them end on dreadful cliffhangers. Well, they might. But still, I felt the need to post this three chapter arc as one whole string instead of separately as I finished writing them. It gets back into the action of things in this arc, though. And builds up the plot some more. Enjoy, and look for the next parts of the arc soon._

* * *

"It was more of a. . .temporary partnership. Still, he was a close friend at one point." Isaac mused, thinking it over now.

"It's just too coincidental to find him now, isn't it?" Miranda asked him, catching his gaze as he nodded slowly.

"At any rate, we'll need to find these other cells. Regardless of what we think of him, we need to focus our priorities. Do you have any leads for me?" he asked now, leaning against the door frame of her office in that casual way that he did.

"Well, you wanted offers for a team. I dug up some information on a brilliant salarian tech specialist. Selmen Golenn. He's earned quite a reputation for fixing things and shooting them as well, and he's visiting the Citadel for a one week period in which his fans come to visit him."

_A salarian technician, huh?_

"Give me all the info you can on him. I want to know everything about him before we recruit him. How long has his tour gone on for right now?" Isaac asked, thinking it over. The cells of Resistance were the most important priority here, but he had also told her to find him a decent team for this mission. She was just doing her job.

"Two days. We still have a good five days to catch him before he's off to fix some unknown problem." she said, still typing at her terminal. Isaac nodded now.

"We have enough time to do a little scouting for these other Cerberus cells while we-"

"I think I can assist with that." a grim voice declared as Aaron stepped through the office doors. There was something about the man that was off in the way he walked.

Isaac shivered, and not because of the naturally cold temperature of the office.

"You found one?" Isaac asked, and Aaron nodded, glancing at him now.

"The communications were scrambled, but I managed to locate one of my teams on Haestrom."

"Haestrom? That's geth territory. What is the Resistance doing in a place like that?"

"Trying to stop Cerberus from gaining control of synthetic tech. Now that the geth are gone, Haestrom is free to be raided. Haestrom used to be inhabited by quarian engineers. The planet has all kinds of tech that they could use to further their goals. My teams are trying to get that tech before they do."

What Aaron was saying made logical sense to them, but there was still something odd about it all. Isaac caught the glance of Miranda, and saw that same look of concern in her face.

"We'll go to Haestrom then. Keep digging up what you can, Miri." Isaac said, and then promptly left. Aaron glanced at Miranda now, smiling.

"Miri, huh?"

"Look, there's work to do. If you want to talk, catch me later." she stated plainly, and then ignored him as he stared at her, burying herself in work again.

* * *

"Haestrom's sun is a red giant. Radiation on the planet prevents long distance communications, and the sunlight fries your shields in a matter of seconds. Too much exposure could be lethal." Shepard said simply.

Isaac only shrugged. A big radioactive sun seemed like the least of their worries right now.

"Aaron says there's tech on that planet. If it falls into Cerberus hands, then there's no telling what they can do." Isaac said, standing now.

"So, like it or not, we're going to Haestrom." he glanced at Rai and X, who caught his gaze now too.

"We're going with you, aren't we?" Rai complained, his voice showing his enthusiasm for the mission.

"Grab your gear and meet me in the Shuttle Bay." he said to the both of them, who only nodded in reply.

* * *

Haestrom had the remnants of quarian ground facilities, and had he not been on an important mission to stop valuable tech from falling into Cerberus hands, Isaac could have taken the time to study this lost architecture.

No, not an archeologist, he mused, not even sure if it would fall under that category.

"Shit, he wasn't kidding about the sun." X muttered, narrowly avoiding a patch of sunlight. So far, they had been able to avoid frying themselves in the radioactive heat, but Isaac wondered how long it would be before their luck ran out.

It seemed like he had thought that all too soon, for up ahead there trail of shadows ended, and left a barren patch of ground where sunlight could hit them directly before more structures cast more shadows after that.

Still, there was quite a distance in between where they could easily be fried within minutes.

"Alright. We'll need to move quickly. Stay low, keep running, and don't look at that sun." Isaac breathed, not sure if he believed what he was saying himself.

Without another word, he was off, dashing into the light.

Feeling that kind of heat against your skin made you feel like you were roasting in an oven. And then feeling the impact it had on his shields was even worse. It felt like the sun was literally melting them off of him. To put it simply, it was not a pleasurable feeling.

Once they had regrouped on the other side of the open gap, Isaac took a moment to breathe. He didn't have much time to rest though, for a few shots were fired at him. Reacting immediately, Isaac ducked, peering over the cover to see who had fired at him.

He didn't see anything. Just, emptiness.

"Strange, it's too. . ." he was cut off suddenly by the sound of a sniper rifle shot, and it landed straight into the shoulder of X. The man gasped with the impact. He was behind the cover still, he hadn't stood at all. How had they-

"Ambush!" Rai cried out as Isaac watched the form of X fall to the ground, his eyes wide with fear. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as the rest of the noises around him seemed to blur everything but the crumpled figure of X. The bullet had hit him directly in the shoulder, right in the vital part. The shot was too well placed for a quick shot. The person who had fired this shot had been aiming down their sights for some time now.

"X!" he found himself shouting, moving now to catch X before he collided with the ground. The man bled profusely from the wound in his shoulder.

"Isaac. . .It's. . .not as bad as it looks. I think I'll be fine." he muttered, his voice growing weaker by the second.

"Hang on, X!" Isaac yelled, or thought he yelled, and began applying the med-gel. He tried to call the Normandy up on comms for evac, but remembered the long distance communications were scrambled. All he got was static.

_Shit. Shit. Shit._

* * *

Aaron Nenson suspected they knew about his activities. Unfortunately for them, with Isaac off the ship they were defenseless. Not to mention that Isaac had taken that wretched biotic freak with him. In all things, Isaac had basically handed the ship over to Aaron.

Haestrom had tech on it, sure. But that had all been a ploy, a trick to lure Isaac away while Cerberus took care of them.

Aaron wasn't the leader of the Resistance. No, he was the head leader of Cerberus. And they had let him in so easily. Such fools.

He had one last loose end to wrap up before he took over this ship and left Isaac for his death. He figured that the merc teams he had hired would have him and his squad taken care of by now.

He walked into the office, pistol raised.

"Miranda Lawson. Any last words for your betrayal?"

She seemed genuinely shocked enough, but she didn't lose her calm yet. She was such a resolute woman. Shame she had the hots for Isaac.

"I should have known. I should have expected this. Benning. . .it was all a ploy, wasn't it?"

"You are a smart one. Yes. Benning was a ploy. Those 'Resistance soldiers' on Benning were mine. The others were mercs. You really need to pay more attention, Miss Lawson. You slipped up big this time, and it could cost your precious boyfriend his life."

_Isaac? Oh, he did not just call him my boyfriend. . ._

"You did not just call him that." she said, her voice calm still. Aaron smiled, still holding her at gunpoint.

"Oh? And so what if I did? What are you going to do about it?"

Limited options. She had so little choices, and the truth was, she wasn't even scared in the slightest. The chances of him hitting her dead on . ..ok, the chances of him hitting her dead on were accurate. Her only real hope was that he wouldn't kill her and instead use her as a bargaining chip for Isaac. Cruel, but it was what she would do.

"Nothing." she found herself saying, though she sat back in her chair now, looking at him with relaxed eyes.

"Stop it! Stop!" he said, holding the gun shakily out at her now, "I know you're planning something. You always have a plan. You always do." he said, his voice losing some of its calm and cocky tone now. She smiled at this.

"Do you really think you can shoot me, Aaron?" she replied, her tone unwavering. Aaraon considered this for a moment, before he finally snapped.

"Yes." he said, and fired a shot from the pistol.

* * *

"X! Are you with me? X!" Isaac practically screamed. The gunfire around him somehow avoided him, and he found himself staring at the form of X on the ground. The man had fallen into unconsciousness since being shot, and Isaac was trying desperately to wake him up. He felt Rai's hand on his shoulder, and turned to look at the man now.

"He's stable, but we'll need to get him back to the Normandy fast. Help me clear out these mercs and we can call for evac." Rai said, glancing at X now. He wasn't sure if 'stable' was an appropriate term for the condition, but Isaac needed to move his thoughts from X for now.

"Mercs?" Isaac whispered, his voice a hiss as he ducked a bullet.

"They aren't Cerberus, or Resistance for that matter." Rai paused to take a shot at a unlucky mercenary. "They look like Blue Suns." he finished, looking to Isaac.

_Blue Suns? What the hell would they be doing out here?_

"Rai? What would Blue Suns want with a bunch of tech?" Isaac said, his voice growing louder as he took down a merc himself.

"I don't know. But I think we were set up. This is all to coincidental." Rai yelled, and then took a few more shots at some unlucky mercenaries, who had decided to advance from their cover.

_It's just too coincidental to find him now, isn't it? _Miranda's voice echoed in his head as he thought about it. The pieces were there. If this was a set up. . .then there was only one logical conclusion.

_Aaron, you backstabbing son of a bitch. If you even touch her, I'm going to hurt you in so many ways you won't be able to be identified._

* * *

He enjoyed watching her hurt. More importantly, it felt good to see her kneeling beneath him now. She had betrayed the wrong man by crossing him.

_Kill her. She deserves death. _The voice commanded inside his head, but he held the gun in a shaky grip, his hand sweating.

_Kill her. She deserves death. _It repeated, and Aaron gripped his head tightly in his hand. The headaches it caused were too much sometimes.

"Shut up!" he found himself saying, clawing at his head frantically. "Shut up! Leave me alone!"

_Kill her. _The voice repeated, and Aaron held the gun out at Miranda again, who was laying on the floor now, trying to catch her breath. A bullet wound in her shoulder bled red blood over the floor of her office.

He couldn't obey it. Not this time. He found himself struggling to place the gun away from her. But the voice was so commanding.

_Kill her._

He fired a shot that landed somewhere past her body. He fought for control of his mind, even if the voice was still strong in it.

* * *

Shepard wasn't blind. Nor was he deaf. Hearing gunfire on a ship was one sound that you never forgot.

He was on the Crew Deck visiting Liara when things had gone wrong. Systems had gone dark. Joker had started complaining. Ok, the second one was normal, but still.

"That can't be good." he breathed silently, hearing the second sound of gunfire. Liara and Kasumi were with him now. He had picked Kasumi up when he Liara and him had come down to the Engineering Deck.

"It came from Miranda's office." Kasumi said, pointing to the closed door now. They all dreaded the noises coming from behind that door, but they needed to figure out what this was.

* * *

"Is that the last of them?" Isaac breathed, glancing back out from around the cover now. Rai nodded briskly, and then moved to X now, running some scans and applying medi gel.

His breath was light and shallow, and he was losing blood fast.

"Normandy, come in. We need immediate evac. X is wounded. Normandy, are you there?" Isaac spoke into the comm, only coming up with static. He pressed the button again.

"Normandy, come in! This is ground team! We have wounded! Need immediate evac!"

Nothing but static.

They were blind. And Isaac felt that rage bubbling within him, boiling until it threatened to spill over. If they lost the ship because of him, he would never forgive himself.

* * *

"Shepard, wait!" Liara grabbed for the man, but he had already opened the door to the office. And what they saw nearly gave them all a heart attack. Miranda lay bleeding on the ground, losing blood fast, and Aaron was standing there, his gun pointed at her. It immediately turned to face the three who had entered, however.

"Stay back! I'm not afraid to shoot!" Aaron yelled, his voice almost as shaky as the grip he held his gun in.


	22. Betrayal

_A/N -_

_If you were annoyed by last chapter's jumping around, be prepared for more of that in this chapter. I had to keep jumping around to build suspense and also cover all the area's that needed to be. I feel that this is a fast paced arc, but here's the second part. The third and final part is coming as soon as I can finish proofreading it._

* * *

Rai had gone to investigate the bodies of the mercs while Isaac stayed behind with X. He looked down at the man now, and felt that sudden fear wrenching within him again. He wasn't going to let X die, but without comms to the Normandy, they may as well have been useless.

"Hang in there, X. . .you can make it." Isaac breathed, not sure if he believed his words himself.

Rai came back to him moments later.

"Blue Suns mercs. Their leader had this log on him."

Rai pressed some buttons on his omni-tool, and then a holograph of Aaron popped up moments later.

"I want them taken care of. I'm luring them to Haestrom. If you take care of them there, I'll make sure to reward you highly."

The log faded out moments later, and Isaac felt a sudden fear rising within.

"Aaron, you backstabbing son of a bitch." he found himself saying out loud.

* * *

"Stay back!" Aaron ordered, his voice losing that calm as he looked at the three who had entered here.

_Kill them._

The voice was growing stronger, which usually meant it was closer now.

"We just want to talk, we don't want to-" Shepard began, but was cutoff suddenly by Aaron firing past him.

"I'm not playing around! I'll shoot you all! Just like I shot her!" he yelled, his voice frenetic and sharp.

"Calm down. We only want to help you." Shepard began slowly, lowering his weapon to the ground. Aaron followed him the entire way with the pistol.

_Kill them._

The voice split through his mind like a massive gong now, reverberating through his mind.

"Shut up! Get out of my head!" he yelled, and a confused look spread across the faces of the trio.

"Aaron, who are you-"

"Shut up! All of you, shut up!"

He fired another shot at them, and they flinched, moving backwards a bit.

_If you will not kill them, I will kill you all myself._

Moments later, there was a noise that sounded like metal being ripped to shreds.

* * *

Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau, or Joker as they all called him, was not having a good day.

He was picking up energy signatures—ones that weren't Shepard or his crew—in the Cargo Hold. He was detecting multiple hull breaches down there as well, which didn't bode well. And to top it all off, he had cracked a rib. What a wonderful day this had been so far.

"Shepard? Do you read me? Got major breaches in the Cargo Hold?" he spoke over the comm, but got only static in reply. Shit. One by one, the ship's systems were going dark. Something was taking control of the systems.

He turned to get up from his chair, and was nearly given a heart attack when Lieutenant Steven Cortez came running into the Ship Helm, hoisting an assault rifle in his hands.

"There's something down in the Cargo Hold. I managed to avoid it coming up here, but I heard them when I did." he breathed, his voice calm as he stared at Joker, who seemed to be thinking about his combat abilites.

"I was a soldier once. Everyone learns to shoot at some point." he proclaimed calmly, to which Joker only shook his head.

"We're losing control of the Normandy. Comm systems are down, Shepard is somewhere on this ship without guidance, and something is invading. Yeah, seems like a normal day on the Normandy to me."

Steve ignored his humor, though he himself was remaining quite calm for a situation like this.

"We'll need to get those comms back online. We need to get Isaac and his squad back up here. If we get them up here, we can start reactivating the other systems."

Joker nodded at this now. "Ok. You'll need to go down to Engineering to manually override the lockdown. I can walk you through it once you get there."

Steve nodded quickly and left without another word.

"If you make it there." Joker found himself saying, struggling for control of the ship.

* * *

Isaac was getting pissed.

More pissed than usual.

"Rai, can you keep him alive while I try to get those comms online?" Isaac asked, turning back to the doctor who gave him no reply, only working fiercely on X. Rai wasn't a field medic, but he was working miracles for the man.

Isaac took this as a good sign of a 'yes', and continued trying to break through the static that came in over the comm.

* * *

Miranda was breathing, at least. She was alive, but losing blood fast. And if they didn't get her help soon. . .Kasumi dreaded having to tell Isaac that news. Her thoughts wandered to him now, wondering if he was ok.

"Stay. Back." Aaron repeated, a wild look on his face. He had fired at them a few times, even reloaded the gun. They could have had him already, but Shepard had rubbed off on them. Neither Kasumi nor Liara felt like taking a shot at the man. He seemed so. . .shaky.

_We are on board. We will deal with this ourselves._

* * *

Lieutenant Steven Cortez was used to flying shuttles and other ships. He was, in no way, a soldier. But right now, he felt like he needed to be a soldier.

It was one of those moments where one blurs the lines a little to allow oneself to step into a role they were not used to normally. And stepping into this role just might save the Normandy.

"Got heat signatures ahead. The systems override is through there, though." Joker's voice came over the comm they had set up. It was set up on a different channel that Steve had made himself so that they could communicate.

"Roger that. Going radio silent until I reach the override." Steve replied, his voice a whisper.

"Got it. Just, try not to give me a heart attack or anything." Joker replied, his casual humor still in his voice.

Steve Cortez may not have been a soldier before, but he was a soldier now. He jumped from around the corner and raised his assault rifle.

_Time to put those shooting practices to use._

* * *

John Shepard had been shot at before, but you never quite got used to the feeling of bullets in your skin. More, without your armor on, the pain hurt even more then usual.

Shepard felt himself gripping his shoulder now, the pain beginning to seer through him.

"Shepard!" Liara yelled, turning to catch him now.

"I'm fine." he sputtered, the look on his face one of pure shock. But he still remained calm, somehow.

"Shepard, hang in there." she breathed, stabling him now as she glanced at Kasumi, who wasn't sure if she should fire on the man who had shot Shepard.

"I'll shot you too! Stay back!" Aaron proclaimed, still holding them at gunpoint.

"Kasumi. . .don't take the shot." Shepard breathed, his voice quiet now. The Captain was a strong man, but he wasn't invincible.

_Forces are taking control of the ship. Retrieve the data from the terminal._

The voice was still strong in his head, still holding a large sway over his mind. He felt another massive headache coming on, and he grasped his head between his hands now, giving Kasumi enough time to move forward and drag Miranda back to them for Liara to apply medi gel to the two wounds they had received.

Aaron regained himself moments later, his voice still shaky.

His voice was shaky when he spoke again, but something was different about it.

"I. . .I don't want to hurt you too. Please, just stay back." Aaron breathed again, repeating his plea. He moved toward the terminal now, still at gunpoint from two of them.

"We don't want to hurt you either, just put that gun down." Kasumi whispered, her voice calm. Aaron glanced at the terminal once, and then back at the two.

"Just. . ." he turned to the terminal and sat down in the chair, starting to type. Liara took this moment to flare her biotics, and Kasumi aimed a shot at the man, but Aaron was faster. He fired another warning shot at the two, and though Liara didn't stop flaring her biotics, she dreaded to know what information he was extracting from the terminal.


	23. Disbelief

_A/N -_

_I really struggled with a fitting title for this chapter as the conclusion of this arc. I came up with 'Disbelief' purely out of nothing. I try to symbolize what happens in the chapter or what's most important in one word, but this was one was much more difficult for me. *shrug* it seems to fit it well. At any rate, the final chapter for tonight, and the final chapter in this arc._

* * *

Isaac Black was very easy to anger. Some things just did it faster than other things.

"Dammit!" he said once more, his comm channel only coming up with static. They knew Aaron was behind this now, and the anger was killing him. Rai had a worried look on his face that Isaac wasn't ready to confront yet.

"Isaac? X is alive, but we need those comms up soon. He's losing blood faster than I thought." he said silently. Isaac glanced once more at the man who he had decided to undergo a possibly fatal surgery to save.

"No. He won't die now. Not on my watch." he found himself saying, and then turned back to the comm.

* * *

"Joker, I'm in." Steve spoke into the comm, intentionally trying to give the pilot a heart attack.

"Good. There should be a big switch somewhere to reactivate main power systems. You'll have to manually override the lockdown on our systems once the power is back online."

The Lieutenant nodded, though he saw a bunch of switches and levers here. None of them, sadly, had a big 'Press this button to reactivate power' label on them.

Shrugging, he began to push a few switches and pull a few levers.

* * *

Aaron had extracted whatever information he had wanted from the terminal, and Miranda and Shepard were out cold. He moved forward now, still holding them at gunpoint.

"Just. . .let me go. I won't hurt you anymore." he breathed, but Liara wasn't inclined to believe him anymore.

"You shot Miranda and Shepard. How are we supposed to believe you now?" she asked, her voice wavering a bit at mentioning the Captain, who was still out cold.

"I didn't want to shoot them! It made me do it! You have to understand that!" he yelled, his grip finally loosing the gun and he dropped it now. Liara didn't hesitate to let loose with a biotic pulse. Maybe before she would have, but now that he had shot the man she loved? No one crossed that line.

* * *

"Joker? Can you hear me?" Isaac repeated again. This time, he didn't get static. Well, he got static and the pilot, but he was glad to hear the pilot still.

"Well, your voice certainly sounds more like a robot then I remember, but I hear you." Joker said, coming in now.

A wave of relief washed over Isaac, and he glanced at Rai, who stared at him expectantly. X was still unconscious.

"Send evac immediately. X is wounded."

"Steve's on his way right now in the shuttle. Sending evac coordinates." Joker said, then his voice crackled out again. Relief must have shown on Isaac's face, for Rai gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"We just need to get him back soon. He'll be fine until then." he said, offering some more encouragement to Isaac.

* * *

He was back against the wall now, and he had them closing in on him now.

_Forces have arrived to reprimand the data._

A few seconds was all it took for the screams to reverberate thorough the deck, and Liara and Kasumi took the chance to turn around and exit the office. Aaron only had a few quick moments to escape, and by the time they turned around again, he was gone somehow.

* * *

The shuttle ride had been less than exciting. Steve had explained that he was going as fast as he could, though Isaac felt they were moving as slow as a brick. Still, the Normandy felt more. . .empty as they stepped off the shuttle now.

"There are these. . .things on board, Isaac." Steve said, following them off the shuttle.

"They came from the Cargo Hold, though they haven't been down here yet. If I had to guess-" his voice was cut off by Joker suddenly.

"Uhh, yeah. Those 'things' look a lot like Reaper forces to me."

_Reapers? Holy fuck._

Isaac became aware of the sweat forming on his hands, and he took the moment to glance back at Rai.

"Get him to Med Bay. I'll blaze you a trail." he said, and then walked into the elevator while Rai prepped X for travel. Steve remained behind to fix the shuttle, saying that it had been put under too much pressure. There really wasn't any need for him to be a soldier anymore for now, either.

* * *

The forces were swarming over the Crew Decks when he got there. He hadn't found any trouble coming up, but now he faced the full brunt of their force.

One of them turned to look at him, and his blood went cold. These were Reaper Forces. Holy fuck.

Marauders and Cannibals spread out across the deck, taking the crew where they could and turning to look at the man standing in the elevator with a shocked look on his face.

He did the only thing he knew he could. He fired like a maniac. Wherever Aaron was, he would make him pay for this. Something was off about seeing the Reaper forces here though. They still died the same.

* * *

Aaron Nenson wasn't exactly the type suited to get his hands and knees dirty. He had been raised in a posh lifestyle, and he was used to others doing things for him.

So when he had decided to crawl through the ducts—or if it had decided for him—he wasn't too happy.

He was making his way back through the ducts to the CIC. From their, he could manually take control of the ship from the Ship Helm. And then this would all be over. If only they had agreed to give him that data to begin with. He hadn't wanted to shoot them. The voice had made him do it. It was all the voice's fault. . .

_Return to the forces. Return the data or you will be marked as a traitor._

He ignored the voice in his head and continued his ascent.

* * *

Blood covered him now.

Blood that he had wished would never cover him again. Reaper blood.

He shuddered at the notion, just to see Liara and Kasumi round the corner, guns raised. They glanced at the corpses littered around, and then looked back to him.

"Reapers." he breathed, hardly able to believe it himself.

They only glanced at each other, then back to him, just as Rai came up the elevaotr.

"Isaac, Miranda was shot. . .she's unconscious right now." Kasumi said, her voice low.

At this notion, his skin went numb, and he let Rai shoulder by him, taking the unconscious X with him.

"Show me." he breathed.

* * *

Captain John Shepard was a strong man. He was used to being shot, so he recovered quickly from the shock and trauma. Still, that did nothing to help the pain he felt in his shoulder. Miranda was awake by the time he got up too, and she crawled to him now.

"Shepard. . .it was Aaron. . .he got me." she breathed, stabling herself on the ground with her hands.

"I know." Shepard breathed, pulling himself up now, looking at her.

"You alright?"

"I'm fine, Shepard. It was a trap. Isaac could be dead right now."

Shepard didn't know what to say to this. He stumbled against the wall, stabling himself and trying to cope with the pain of the wound he had taken.

"We. . .know. Aaron shot me too. . ." he trailed off, then looked around.

"He's not here. . .neither are Liara and Kasumi. Need. . .to find them." he was a strong and resilient man, but he wasn't invincible. Maybe he was a little crazy too.

"Going. . .to find them." he managed to get out, stumbling out of the office with a limp as he held his shoulder, while Miranda found her way back to her terminal.

Moments later, Shepard returned, and following him was Isaac. A very worried and concerned look spread across his face as he stepped into the office, watching Miranda drag herself to the terminal.

"Miri! God, you're alright!" he breathed, rushing to a very startled Miranda now, who had just managed to get herself turned around when Isaac was in front of her moments later. Seeing him in the flesh and hearing his voice again, she couldn't help but smile at him.

"We need to get you to Med Bay. X is there right now, and Rai can help you." he said, holding out a hand to her for support. She took his hand, pulling herself up on it, and met his eyes. There was relief in them. There was relief in hers too.

"Shepard needs to go too." she breathed, stumbling a bit, but Isaac caught her.

He turned to look at Kasumi, helping Miranda over to her and giving her to Kasumi.

"Take them to the Med Bay." he breathed, a calm tone once again in his voice, and he took in another breath to go on, but he heard Joker's voice over the comm now.

"Isaac? We got someone in the ducts. Looks like he's making his way up here. You'd better hurry. I'm not that good of a shot." the pilot said, and Isaac's face creased in a deep frown. There was only one person that could be.

_Aaron, I'm coming for you, you son of a bitch._

* * *

Aaron had made his way relatively unharmed through the ducts. The voice screamed at him in his head, but he ignored it now. He felt himself stumbling toward the Ship Helm.

_Take. . .control. . .leave. . ._

He found himself fighting his own war within his mind, and it was a war he was losing. The voice was still strong within him.

_Forces have been terminated. Retreat for extraction. You will be terminated if you do not comply._

He ignored still, even as he held the gun up to the pilot. Joker turned to see a crazy man stumbling toward him, clutching a pistol in a sweaty and shaky grip.

"Give me. . .the ship. . ." Aaron managed, his voice coming through gritted teeth.

_Relinquish control to us now, and we might spare you. Do not fight your salvation._

The voice was still coming at him. It was persistent, but Joker wasn't going to comply.

He would have shot the pilot, but a voice growled at him now from across the room.

"Aaron!"

It was Isaac, and he was none too happy to see Aaron now. Especially in the situation he was in.

"Isaac, you don't. . .understand.. . ." Aaron breathed, his voice shaky as he turned to watch Isaac walk up to him now.

"I don't have anything to understand. You shot my Captain and my crew. How do you justify that? We were friends, Aaron! I trusted you!"

"It made me do it, dammit! Made me set up those traps for you. . .Isaac, I never wanted to hurt anyone!" Aaron pleaded now, grasping his head with his hands.

_Termination in twenty seconds._

Good. Let him die. Even if he died, it would be better then hearing that voice in his head.

"I trusted you, dammit! And you betrayed me!" Isaac screamed again, this time slamming him against a wall.

_Termination in ten seconds._

So close. Death was so close.

"Didn't. . .do it. . ." Aaron said, his voice calm and quiet, even as he felt the omni-blade in his stomach. He raised the pistol swiftly to his head, and fired.

* * *

"Does someone want to tell me what in the name of _fuck _just happened?" Isaac breathed, pacing around the Med Bay. Shortly after Aaron had shot himself and everything had returned to normal again, he had taken his body to the Med Bay. Shepard, X, and Miranda rested easily in whatever medical beds were free. The other was for Aaron. He was dead, sure, but there was something to learn from him. Rai was running scans on him now.

"We're not sure." Liara said, coming forward now.

"One moment all was fine and you had left for Haestrom. The next, Shepard found us and took us to the Crew Decks, where he said he had heard gunfire."

"We know Aaron set us up. This was all a ploy. So. . .he tricked us. Got under our skin. Made us trust him. Dammit, I should have known." Isaac said now, pacing back and forth, his hand on his forehead.

"Isaac, you couldn't have known. He acted suspicious, but we could never have anticipated this." Kasumi said, trying to soothe Isaac now.

"No, I should have been ready. It was too much of a coincidence. And now Shepard is hurt, X is hurt, and. . .Miri is hurt." he glanced at the sleeping woman with a look of pain on his face. She had been hurt because of his calls.

"Isaac, you did what you could for them. There's nothing more that you could have done." Rai said now, turning from Aaron's body to him.

"Yeah? I don't feel like I believe that right now." Isaac breathed, promptly and swiftly exiting the room after, leaving them to their silence and shock at his words.


	24. Solace

_A/N -_

_I have to say, I wasn't sure what to feel when typing this chapter. I won't say anything other then that I think it turned out to be a good chapter, and it's well placed where it is. Just this one chapter for today, I'm afraid. At any rate, more to come tomorrow once I get things back on track. So look forward to that._

* * *

Three days, and not one of those nights had he slept easy.

He woke now, with more start and panic than usual. His breath came to him, an alien air in his lungs, as his surroundings settled in, and he fully awoke himself from the emotional discontent his dreams had taunted him with.

He sat up in his bed now, leaning on the side of it, clothed in only his simple pair of black boxers. He laid his head in his hands. Too much time to think caused things like this.

_I made a mistake, and they got hurt because of me. How do you deal with something like that?_

His gaze rested on the window now, and he felt himself lost in the swaying sea of captivating planets and stars, only white blips of varying sizes.

_Did Shepard ever deal with this? Did he ever make a bad call?_

His own mind pelted him with constant torment after torment, as if the mental war he was waging was his way of paying himself back for the call he had made.

_I trusted Aaron too openly. Cerberus used him to get to me, to get under my skin. I won't let them down again._

He hadn't made any decisions about what their next moves were going to be yet. Kasumi had come by, trying to offer him comfort and reassurance, but he hadn't felt he believed what she had told him yet. And it made him feel even more guilty to see her walk away, a hopeless expression on her face as she muttered something about 'stubborn fools'.

He didn't want to hurt them too. He was dealing with enough of the pain himself now. It didn't make sense to drag them into the mess too. He had deliberately tried to separate himself from the rest of them – even Miranda – to keep him from hurting them too.

He only felt that being alone was the best solution to this problem he faced. It was like his inner thoughts were taking their own revenge on him, any way.

He knew they didn't feel that way. He knew that they only hurt more to see him like this, but what other choice did he have?

_They hurt to see me like this? They'll hurt even more to find out why I'm like this._

He remembered his own words, spoken to X, about the family they had formed. X.

The latter of them were fine. X had complained about minor shoulder pains, but he was awake and his usual headstrong self. Shepard was a soldier who had been shot before, he was used to recovering so quickly from things like this. Miranda had recovered also, in the three day period that they had simply been cruising silently, waiting for any sign of orders from Isaac.

He realized that Shepard hadn't taken charge of the situation, and wondered if, now that the Captain was awake once more, if he would simply command the operations now. At least he would do better than Isaac had.

_Two of my crew shot, and the Captain shot too. Shit. What mess did I get myself into this time?_

It hadn't hit him until now, but he pondered what had made him join the military again. He had spent those five years burying his memories of the wars, only to rejoin within a matter of one day. He was either crazy, or dreaming an extremely extended and fucked up dream. The second was less than likely.

_Huh. Me crazy. I never thought about that one._

The more he chewed the word over, digested it, the more he realized how it fit him. He dressed in a simple pair of black shorts, and stood to leave his chambers, slinging a towel over his shoulder for a shower. He needed to do something, and though the shower only made him much more nostalgic of his old life, he felt that there was no sense killing himself over these thoughts.

He was more than shocked when he met the face of Miranda as he was exiting his chambers.

"Miri?" he whispered, glancing around. The rest of the ship was silent. It must have been somewhere late into the night.

"Isaac." she whispered back to him, more than likely equally shocked to see him there too.

He stared at her for a moment before shaking his head and trying to pass her by. She stopped him with a hand to his chest.

"Where are you going? Don't brush me off like that." she said, and he backed up to face her now.

"I just. . .I don't feel like talking." he sighed, looking into her eyes, the seas of pure blue making it very easy to forget his sorrows for a moment. If she noticed his lack of clothing, she didn't seem to care for now.

"Isaac, you can't let this eat you up. You want some company?" she asked, smiling thinly at him. He realized, with some great pain spreading across his face, that she was trying to comfort him now.

The exact thing he had been trying to avoid happening.

"Miri. . .I don't want to talk about it."

She looked genuinely hurt by his words, and he shouldered his way back into the room, obviously not going to get his shower now.

"I. . .I've just been thinking about it. I just don't want to drag them into it too," he said, his voice quiet and low toned, as he sat down at the bed. He looked at her now, and she crossed the room to sit by him.

"I didn't want to drag you into this either." he whispered, the close proximity of her to him making his voice even all the more silent in the deadly quiet room.

"Isaac, you aren't going to hurt me by talking to me about this. Talk to me. Tell me what this is about." she whispered, looking at him still, never once losing his gaze. He was a shell of the man he once was, his feisty and fiery attitude that she had seen on Freedom's Progress completely gone now. Now, there was only the image of a pained and wounded man, who's memories were finally catching up to him after all these years.

He found himself wanting to say no to her, to take her from his room before he dragged her into the hell he felt he was going through, and the look in her eyes told him that she was gladly ready to follow him into that hell.

He sighed with some great inward effort, standing now and pulling on a thin t shirt as he gazed out the window into the void of space, not looking at her.

"I made a bad call. I should have realized that it was a trap, that he was going to betray us. They used him against me." he turned to face her now, the pain and sorrow reflecting in his eyes and his voice, "They used one of my own friends against me. How the hell was I supposed to handle that?"

She felt that he was about to break right before her eyes, to shatter into the emotional man she had once known so many years before. She wondered if anyone else ever saw this side of him.

A faint whisper against her ear, the tears wet on both their cheeks as they said their goodbyes for now.

"_I love you, Miri. Don't ever forget that."_

His voice now was like it had been then. Soft and gentle, so much lesser than the man that she knew would headbutt a krogan if he had to.

"You couldn't have. There was no way to tell that he would have done that, Isaac. You did everything you could. There wasn't another thing more that you could have done." she whispered, her voice soft to match his.

"Miri. . ." his voice trailed off as he leaned against the window, his arm supporting his head now. His eyes closed, and his voice broke as the first tears fell.

"I killed him. I saw myself rip through his gut with my omni-blade. I saw him shoot himself and splatter his brains over me. I felt him die in my hands."

He didn't meet her eyes at all, but she stood now, coming behind him as she laid a hand on his shoulder. He shuddered with the touch, but didn't turn to look at her or jerk away from her.

"Isaac, nobody suspected Cerberus would pull a move like that. There wasn't anyway that you could have known."

His fist slammed against the glass, sliding down it as the tears stopped their downfall now. His voice was boiling with anger when he spoke again.

"Cerberus stepped too far. I'm going to make every last bastard in that damn organization pay for this. I'm going to make sure they feel the pain that I've felt. And I'll make sure that the last thing they hear before they die is me."

He had opened his eyes to stare out into the void once more, and he felt that she was waiting for something more.

"Isaac, the crew needs you now." she looked away quickly, taking her hand from his shoulder and walking back toward the door now. "I need you now." she whispered, her voice barely audible.

He turned to face her now, and brought her into an embrace in which she felt safe again, for the brief moments it lasted. Then his arms were gone from around her, and his face was close to hers as he whispered into her ear.

"It's alright." she heard him say.

And she believed him this time. That line, that he had said so many times to her before, that had made her feel safe and protected, was now the same as it had been then, all those years ago.

"Sometimes, you have to make bad calls. Nobody is perfect, Isaac. But we all try our best." she whispered back, pulling from his embrace and turning to the door now. She stopped before she left, however, looking into his own eyes now.

"I. . .I was wrong about you. I'm sorry. I just. . .need some time alone." she whispered, and then turned and left. Isaac wasn't sure if he felt sorrow or happiness from her words, but he did know that she had meant what she said. And he was going to get things back on track now. For the crew. For himself. For the woman he loved.


	25. Trouble

_A/N -_

_Dreadfully sorry to make you all wait for this next chapter. Though once you read it, I think you'll be eagerly awaiting more. This next chapter is part of a three-part arc, so yes, they do end on cliffhangers. Just be prepared for that. Anyways, the next installment._

_Special thanks go to tag58 for proofreading this for me before I posted it. I owe her a lot. :-)_

* * *

The next morning, things were back on track.

Isaac walked with a brisk step, a grim look on his face as he passed the rest of the crew, already up and bustling about. He stepped to the side for them to pass him, making his way quickly toward the ship helm. He walked faster now, that commanding look never fading from his face.

He stopped once he reached the back of the pilots chair.

"Joker, take us to the Citadel. We're going to get us one hell of a techie." he spoke, his voice calm and resolute, the usual Isaac mask back in place.

The pilot nodded, and then began to turn the ship toward the nearest mass relay. Isaac turned quickly and left, his brisk step never once losing its pace until he found himself alone in his rooms once more.

Did he even have the authority to do that? Shepard was really being kind and all, but it would be difficult if the Captain decided to step in.

He had been lenient enough to allow Isaac to operate outside of protocol, but how long before he made another mistake like the one that he had before.

He decided to talk it out with X. That always made things better.

"So. . .a salarian, huh?" X muttered, half to himself. To this, Isaac nodded, his hands folded together and laying on the table. X sat across from him.

"Yeah. He's supposedly one hell of an engineer and technician. He's on tour on the Citadel right now."

X seemed to brighten at the aspect of the Citadel.

"You're. . .taking me, right?"

Isaac nodded firmly. There was no one he'd rather have by his side, and not just because this particular man was a biotic legend.

"Of course. Why?" Isaac replied, his voice crisp and quick.

X shrugged, massaging his forehead with his hand now.

"Just. . .memories. I remember things now, and I remember a woman. . .the rest is foggy, but I know she and I had some emotional attachment at some point. I don't remember what it was, but I'm gaining back my old memories now."

Isaac nodded at this, and leaned forward now.

"Just know that we're willing to support you in this. You're not alone anymore." he whispered, his voice calm.

X gave him a cocky look, and then stood, going to the window now.

"I never really did thank you for saving me on Aeia. Guess I got a bit caught up. And Isaac. . ." he glanced down at the floor. "I'm not mad at you for making the decision. I'm glad that you saved me, but don't expect me to get all teary eyed again. That was a one time only thing."

"Good to hear. I need my crew at one hundred percent."

X waved a hand at this dismissively.

"Pfft. I'm not a robot. I don't have percents, Isaac. I just have trust. And right now, I trust you with my life."

He turned to stare at Isaac now, and he found himself meeting X's eyes back. There was silent recognition and truth to his words in his eyes.

"Guess I'd be a slimy puddle of eezo right about now if you hadn't found me." X said, turning back to the window.

"Just glad we found you in enough time to save you." Isaac said back, and the conversation fell silent afterward.

"You know, I thought my biotics were weaker. But," he turned back to Isaac now and gestured around the room, "I've set up things to practice on, don't worry. But I find the more I concentrate, the stronger they get."

"So, you may have surpassed your earlier biotic power?" Isaac found himself saying, the happiness barely dodging seeping into his tone.

X nodded at this and then smiled again.

"Yeah. I think it's the meditation and concentration that's helping me focus my power more. In truth, I'm not even angry about losing my old power. Cause I have new power."

He said the last part with an evil smirk, and Isaac couldn't help but smirk back.

"So, we're good then? After Haestrom, after everything?" he once again found himself saying before he could stop it. X came back over to the table now, and caught Isaac's stare. Isaac found himself never losing the man's gaze.

"You don't even have to ask." was his only whispered reply. Isaac nodded, and opened his mouth to speak, but found Joker interrupting their conversation.

"Proceeding to docking bay now. Alliance has cleared us for landing."

Isaac nodded once more to X, who nodded back, and then left.

The Citadel was how he remembered it. Well, almost.

There were a few minute changes that didn't really bug him. Still, these were out of the question right now.

Rai and X stepped off the ship behind him, and X seemed to glance around, fascinated by the views he saw.

"It's all a little much to take in." X muttered, giving a nasty glare to anyone who decided to stare at his sheer lack of clothing. He had insisted that he come aboard the Citadel clad in nothing but his shorts and boots. Isaac hadn't objected. Arguing with a biotic as powerful as X usually ended up with your brain hemorrhaging.

"All right, our target is a salarian technician named Selmen Golenn. He's on tour currently, so he shouldn't be hard to find." Isaac began, checking his omni-tool one more time for the correct information. "And let's hope he doesn't think we want his autograph." Isaac muttered, walking forward into the elevator now.

He ignored the stares of the passersby, choosing rather to hold his pistol in an open area instead to ward off looks. The gesture seemed to work, for now.

Isaac wouldn't show it, but he was really hoping a C-sec officer tried to stop him.

The notion was gone from his mind a moment later as they entered the embassies to find a massive winding line leading all the way through them and up the stairs.

"Guess we found our technician." Rai muttered, the sheer size of the line stunning them all. It looked like thousands had gathered just to meet this salarian, and it gave Isaac reassurance that he was indeed what Miranda had told him he was.

"Well, guess we gotta wait in line." X said with a heavy sigh, but Isaac only smiled.

"No. If we go in with that line, he'll think we want an autograph. We get to sneak in after dark." Isaac said with a smile. Wasn't the best way to get him on their team, but it was probably the only way to.

"In the meantime, we need to blend in. People are already staring at us."

X and Rai nodded, trying to look casual. As casual as a shaved head biotic wearing nothing but shorts and leather boots and a doctor wearing white rubber gloves could look.

Isaac was used to blending in with the latter, so he had no trouble. He had, after all, been a mercenary before. You didn't get out of merc training without learning how to make yourself small in a crowd.

"Hey!"

A voice called out to him, jarring him from his thoughts. He turned to look in the direction of the voice, but couldn't see anyone. When he saw people moving apart to let someone through, he looked more closely.

A man was approaching Isaac with a smile on his face, and Isaac didn't recognize him at first. But it suddenly hit him like he had been hit when realizing he was staring down Aaron.

"Callum?" he breathed, his voice barely containing the shock as the stout man approached. He looked much the same, his short blonde hair cropped neatly, his pale blue eyes giving off that same familiar radiance.

"Isaac! I thought that it might be you when I saw you, but I had to make sure." Callum said now, firmly shaking Isaac's hand.

"It's odd to see you here, Callum. What brings you here now?" Isaac found himself asking.

Callum only shrugged, then nodded to Isaac. "I could ask you the same thing, you know. I thought you quit merc work?"

"I did. Left for the Alliance. Then retired after that. Back with the Alliance now."

Callum nodded at this, looking behind Isaac, noticing the two there. Isaac took this time to introduce them.

"This is X. He's a hell of a biotic." Isaac said, stepping out of the way for Callum and X to shake hands.

"And this is Rai Mancini. He's a medical genius." Isaac finished, turning to Callum now.

"Callum Yacobs. He and I worked as mercenaries together." Isaac said, looking back at X and Rai.

"Interesting. The last person you worked with. . ." X started, but a glare from Isaac cut him off.

"Well, it was good to see you, anyway." Callum said, glancing distractedly at something.

Isaac noticed the look.

"Callum? What's up? Don't have time to stick around?"

Callum shook his head, then glanced back at Isaac.

"Listen, I have to go. It's. . .important. I'm not really allowed to talk about it."

Isaac seemed confused by this, but the man shouldered past them now, leaving the trio to stare oddly after him.

"You make very interesting friends, Isaac." X said, staring after Callum.

_He was acting strangely. But Callum and I were good friends before. . .this isn't like Aaron._

Some six hours later, they all sat in a booth together. Isaac had gone to visit his old bar and was pleased to find the place still running. Matt had been happy to see him.

"Looks like the line's going away now. We'll have to move now if we want to get inside before lock down." Rai said, leaning forward, his hands steeped in a pyramid.

Isaac nodded, pulling himself from the booth now.

"Now we just have to find a way inside."

A thin smile spread across X's face, and he cracked his knuckles, taking point.

"Let me handle the guards. You two sneak in when they're gone. Just make sure you come back with that salarian."

They would have objected, but X walked off to another patron in the small lounge, and threw a punch at his face. Isaac winced as he heard the sickening crack of a jaw bone, and decided now would be a good time to make a run for the doors. The guards were already moving toward them.

"That wasn't the most effective entrance." Rai muttered, crawling out from behind the crates, following Isaac.

Isaac only shrugged. He had expected X to pull a bold move like that.

"What did you expect? He's X."

You couldn't argue with that.

"Anyway, all we need to do is find Mr. Golenn and get him to come with us. Convincing him to join us might not be so easy." Isaac said, looking around the next corner before diving for the nearest cover. Rai followed, with less stealth.

"So, what's our plan then?"

Isaac shrugged again. "We don't have one. Though I think it shouldn't be too hard-" he cut himself off, looking at the man ahead.

He was clad in dark leather armor, the helmet hanging loosely over his head, but those eyes, that hair, and that face were unmistakably Callum's.

"Callum? What the hell is he doing in the salarian's private rooms?" Isaac whispered, taking a position behind a wall nearby, looking out at Callum.

"Have you considered that maybe he's not the same person anymore?" Rai whispered back, voicing X's thoughts from earlier.

Isaac turned to glare at him.

"Callum was a partner in crime, if you will. Aaron was more of a loose cooperation. Callum and I were very close back in our days."

That was enough to silence Rai for now, but he still didn't trust this man. Isaac's last friend had turned rogue and then shot himself. Why should this one be any different?

"Callum!"

Isaac rounded the corner, and the man immediately reacted, his gun raised within seconds. Fortunately, he did not shoot, instead lowering the weapon with a look of shock on his face.

"Isaac?!"

Isaac nodded, Rai coming from around the corner now too.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" Callum whispered, the darkness around them making the feeling of dread that was settling in Isaac's gut even more visible.

"We're going to get Selmen to come with us. We need him for a team I'm making." Isaac stated plainly. Callum seemed to consider this for a moment before lowering his gun all the way.

"Well, I trust you enough to think you're not trying to kill him, at least. I can take you to him, but there's a slight problem. . ."

Isaac waited in the silence that followed, but Callum had already raised his gun and pointed to something behind Isaac.

"Isaac-" he began, but a deep and gravelly voice cut him off.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll turn around, very slowly, and drop your weapon."


	26. Chase

_A/N -_

_The next chapter in this arc. More heated action ahead for you all._

* * *

Isaac had never been held at gunpoint before. Sure, he had been shot, but he couldn't recall a time where he had actually felt a a gun against his skin.

So, when he felt the cold metal of a gun against his neck, he did the only logical thing. Looking to Callum, who was sweating, his brow creased in an effort to aim at the attacker in the darkness, Isaac found himself dropping his gun. The weapon clanked to the floor below him, and he slowly turned to face a dark faced man.

"Good. Now take your friends' weapons too."

Isaac turned to look back at Callum, who only dropped his weapon slightly. He didn't let go of it completely yet.

Rai still held the man at gun point, but the figure turned to look at him now.

"Drop the gun, now." the voice commanded, and Rai found himself lowering the gun. A panicked glance at Isaac and a reassuring nod from the headstrong man, Rai dropped the pistol completely.

Callum did the same, seeing the gesture from Isaac.

Isaac moved into action only a second later.

His fist came up almost instantly, but the man was even faster. He caught Isaac's arm mid-swing, and Isaac could have sworn he saw the man smile.

"Too slow." he said, his tone still deep.

Isaac was stunned as the man threw him behind himself, propelling forward with the momentum he gained from throwing a startled Isaac into an even more startled Rai. Callum swore under his breath, toppled by the force of the man. He was off ahead of them, and Isaac picked up the pistol from the ground, firing after the man. He missed a few times, but the next shot didn't. Except the next shot wasn't from him.

A blue field encased the man almost immediately. He stopped dead in his tracks, and the field dispersed moments later, sending the man falling to the ground. X appeared from around a corner seconds after the field had dissipated, cracking his neck from side to side as he walked. He stood in front of the man now, and they all heard a small chuckling come from the figure on the floor.

It grew louder and louder until X finally slammed a fist into the man's face, sending him sprawling across the floor.

"Shut the fuck up. That laugh was getting so annoying." the biotic muttered, then looked back to Isaac, Callum and Rai.

"Well, that's the assassin taken care of."

Isaac seemed a bit too startled by this.

"Assassin?"

Callum turned to him now.

"Yeah, it's the reason I'm here. We got wind that someone might try to take Selmen out. They stationed me here because I was the only one available."

Isaac nodded, and turned back to X now.

"And how did you find out?"

X shrugged now, stretching casually.

"Bar talk. Amazing what you can learn from cracking a few jaws."

Isaac cringed at this, but shook his head, turning back to the man now. Or, where the man had been.

"Shit. He got away while we were talking."

X cracked his knuckles now, smiling that thin snarl.

"A chase is even more fun. Come on."

He ducked around a corner, and the trio followed him.

* * *

"Dammit!" Callum shouted, checking his omni-tool.

"He's making his way across the bridge to Selmen's tower. We have to cut him off somehow."

"And how do we do that?" Isaac asked, peering over the side of the open aired bridge into the depths of the lit city below. He gulped and turned back to the others.

"It looks like there are shutoff valves along the pathway. The tunnel is used for maintenance, so they have lock down valves. We could probably use those to stall him so we can make it to Selmen ahead of him." Callum breathed, and then powered off the omni-tool.

Isaac nodded, glancing back at Rai and X, who also nodded. X was still smiling.

"So it's a race to the tower then." Isaac breathed, once more looking out across the expansive bridge that led to a massive tower lit from the bottom up. That was apparently where their salarian was.

"He's moving fast. We'll need to hustle it to make it to the first valve." Callum said, pointing at the tunnel, which was transparent. Their assassin clambered through at an astonishing pace for such a confined space.

They raced for the first valve, which wasn't too far ahead of them now. The assassin was quickly coming closer while Callum struggled with the terminal. At what seemed like the last moment, he managed to shut the valve. The first door sealed in front of the assassin, slowing his progress. The look of shock on his face was satisfying as they raced for the next terminal.

"He's hacked the mechs!" Callum shouted, grabbing the nearest cover he could as a swarm of mechs came out from their positions alongside the bridge, some coming up on rocket boots.

"Let me take care of those." X breathed, the smile coming across his face as a biotic field slammed toward the approaching group of mechs. Needless to say, they were decimated, leaving a self satisfied X, who turned back to the others, slinging his so rarely used shotgun over his shoulder.

"What would you do without me?" he laughed, and then continued forward. Isaac, Rai, and Callum were left to follow in the sudden wake of destruction X was leaving. He decimated the mechs that came running at him easily.

"He's having a little too much fun." Callum breathed, stepping up to the next terminal.

"Dammit! He's hacked the locks. We can't override the valves from here. We'll need to take care of the lock down first."

The bridge shook once.

"Uhh. . ." Isaac breathed, staring forward. X had stopped laughing and shouting.

A hulking metal death machine lumbered toward them at a slow and steady pace. Strangely enough, it had a clear Cerberus logo emblazoned on the side.

"Oh. . .shit." Rai breathed, turning back to Isaac and Callum.

"Callum? How long is it going to take to override that lock?"

"Shouldn't be too long unless I run into trouble. Can you hold it off until then?"

"We can try." Isaac breathed, and ducked for the nearest cover just as a rocket sailed over his head.

"This thing has heavy shields. We won't be able to take it out with biotic force." Isaac barked to his two squad mates, who covered next to him.

"We'll have to take care of its shields and then disable its armor. After that, we can rip it apart with biotics." Rai said, his voice wavering a bit as the ground shook once more, threatening the entire bridge to collapse.

Callum worked furiously on the terminal, and Isaac glanced back over the cover, narrowly avoiding a spray of bullets that flew toward him.

"Shit! Got any ideas for the shields?" he breathed, turning back to the others.

"Give me a bit to wear them down." Rai yelled back, activating his Overload on the mech. It stuttered and shook with the sudden impact of the electrical blast, and Rai smiled thinly, allowing himself a few blasts from the pistol he carried. He didn't let up with his assault, unleashing another Overload and then finishing off whatever remaining shields the mech had left with the pistol. He glanced back to Isaac and X now.

"Rip through its armor and we can have X finish it off." he barked, and then added, as a side note, "And do it quick. It'll try to recharge shields, but I'll keep them down for you."

Isaac nodded, pulling out his assault rifle, activating the flashing red 'Incendiary Ammo' power and then firing a few shots at the mech. The giant machine heaved with the effort, spraying return fire at them, but they were in an easily defended spot.

"You need to kill it soon! If it gets too close, it'll tear us to shreds!" X yelled, trying to project his voice over the sound of an exploding rocket.

Isaac and Rai concentrated on taking down whatever defenses this mech had so that X could finish it off.

"Now, X! We'll give you covering fire!" Isaac yelled, seeing the mech stumble with the signaling sign that it's armor and shields had been shredded. X glowed with a sudden biotic field, and leaped from cover, rushing the mech head on, the mass effect fields already converging around him.

He sailed through the air, propelled off the ground by the extra energy, and landed directly on the cockpit of the startled machine. If machines could be startled.

He let loose with biotic pulse after biotic pulse, and the mech couldn't seem to dislodge the crazed man. He didn't let up still, smashing powered fist after fist into the glass cockpit, ripping through whatever last defenses it had.

There was a sudden moaning and creaking noise as the mech stumbled and X took this moment to propel himself backwards, jumping from the mech and sailing through the air back to the trio, landing softly with the aid of his biotics.

The giant machine collapsed, taking a part of the bridge as it fell, plummeting to its fiery death.

"That was a little too fun." X breathed, turning to look at the three shocked faces.

"What?"

Callum shook himself back into reality. He finished the override, and then sealed the valve. The assassin was once more halted, and he glared at the advancing group. Isaac only smiled. That was the last valve before they could make it to the other side of the bridge.

"We need to move quickly! Forces are already converging on this spot, Isaac!" Callum yelled, breaking into a sprint.

"He called for backup?" Isaac breathed as they ran.

"Yes, and they're already inside the tower! We need to move fast!"

He didn't respond to this, only ran as fast as he could. Rai and X followed as fast as they could as well. The tower loomed in front of them, standing tall despite the chaos just outside of it. Once more, the adrenaline coursed through Isaac's veins as he wondered if they would make it in enough time.

_We have to try. We've come this far, we can make it still._


	27. Revealed

_A/N -_

_And the final chapter in this action packed arc. This is the resolution of it all, so after this I can get the storyline back on track. And, sad to say, we are drawing closer and closer to the end of this story with each new chapter. Don't worry about that for now-there's a lot more fun ahead._

_I'd like to give a huge huge thanks to tag58 for proofreading all of these chapters for me!_

* * *

Selmen Golenn was enjoying a nice night off after his tour for today. It was nice to receive so much recognition, but there was only so much of that praise that one salarian could handle.

It had been a long day indeed for the crafty engineer, and he was ready for whatever short hours of rest he could manage before the final day of his tour tomorrow.

Unfortunately for the tired salarian, a sudden noise of shattering glass followed by four figures plummeting in from above jarred him from his peace and quiet.

* * *

Isaac hadn't thought the windows were the best way in, but Callum had insisted that they had no other choice. They could see the salarian now, and he looked shocked to see them as well.

It wasn't every day that you found four people falling through your windows.

He twisted himself in mid air somehow, pointing his pistol at the door on the far side of the room. Selmen still looked shocked to see them, but he was even more shocked to see a squad of Cerberus soldiers burst through the doors moments later.

"What is going on here?" the salarian demanded, but Isaac held the oncoming soldiers at gun point. X was flaring biotics, and Rai was also holding them at gun point.

"You're outnumbered. Stand down." Isaac said, taking this moment to move a little closer to the two soldiers who had burst into the room.

"Will somebody please tell me what in the name of!-" Selmen demanded, but Callum cut him off.

"Mr. Golenn, it's not safe here. You'll need to come with me."

A quick glance at Isaac, and a reassuring nod after, Callum left, taking Selmen with him.

"Stand down." Isaac repeated, but the soldiers didn't seem to hear him. They seemed to be staring past him now.

"Uh, Isaac? Those aren't Cerberus soldiers." X said, pointing behind the Cerberus troops.

Two more figures entered the room - Cannibals.

_Reapers? Holy fuck!_

"And they have us outnumbered now." Rai pointed out, captain of the obvious.

Bullets flew moments later. Luckily, they had X. And X was a hell of a biotic.

Throwing up a defensive shield around the trio, he found cover behind a leather couch.

"I won't be able to fight them, but you shouldn't have trouble taking care of them!" he yelled, and Isaac glanced at Rai momentarily before shrugging and letting loose with a few shots. He decided that if he asked how the other troop's bullets couldn't make it through but theirs could, he wouldn't be able to understand it and his head would end up in a blazing headache afterward.

The room was in close quarters, so the troops quickly advanced upon them, moving within range of the shield. X took this moment to mop them up with a shockwave, and Isaac felt the vibrations as the blue force cascaded across the room. Once again, he was glad X was on their side.

"That takes care of those bastards. Now we just need to-"

"Isaac!" Isaac heard Callum's voice shout. The man came through the door moments later, a bullet wound in his side. He limped with the effort.

"That assassin made it to Selmen. He's taking him to the roof. We need to stop him from killing him if you want him on your team." Callum breathed, and grabbed his pistol from his back.

"I'll take point." he began, but Isaac cut him off.

"You stay down here. Alert C-Sec. We'll take care of that slippery bastard once and for all."

There was a standoff of sharp glares from both of the men before Callum finally sighed and powered on his omni-tool. In the meantime, Isaac's trio headed into the elevator for a roof showdown.

* * *

The roof was windy.

More than that, the air screamed around them as skycars whizzed by, their lights fizzling off in the distance. It was a very entrancing view, and the look down made you want to vomit, but Isaac wasn't here for the scenery.

The assassin was dragging Selmen toward the ledge of the tower when the trio spread from the elevator, fanning out in a 'V' formation with Isaac taking the middle.

"Put the salarian down!" Isaac found himself saying, and then, realizing how that sounded, corrected himself.

"Let the salarian go!"

The assassin stopped in his tracks, still wearing that ridiculous black hood and cloak that he had worn in the darkness before. It was what had made him so hard to see.

"And what makes you think I want to do that?" he yelled, his voice just barely coming in over the wind screaming past them.

"You don't have to do this! What did he even do to you?" Isaac found himself shouting back at the man. His words held no meaning however. At this point, Isaac felt like throwing this man over the side of the building. But appearances were all a game.

"Oh? And what if he did do something to me? What if I _do _want to do this?" the assassin yelled, pressing a pistol to the side of Selmen's head. The salarian looked even more sickly green than his usual green color.

"I don't want to hurt you!" Isaac yelled, "We only want the salarian, you can go free!"

Selmen seemed to have his eyes closed and was whispering something fiercely. Isaac caught the words '_Nothing_' and '_Innocent_' from his lips, but the rest was a mess of jumbled words.

"You ask for a lot!" the assassin spat back, his voice laced with an acidic tone now.

"We don't! We only ask that you don't harm innocent people!" Isaac shot back, beyond seething now. This man was really asking to be thrown over the tower now. He glanced at X now, who seemed to be considering the same thing, but Isaac only shook his head.

"And all I want is revenge for my sister! You don't know how he's humiliated my family! How he's tortured us and reduced us to nothing!" the assassin spat back, his voice still acidic.

Isaac glanced at Selmen, who was still muttering something to himself. He decided that he would burn that bridge later.

"Let him go! We'll make him atone for what he's done, but don't kill him! Selfish revenge on defenseless people isn't what your sister would want, is it?"

The assassin considered this for a moment, and opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. A pained expression spread across his face.

"No, it isn't. She wouldn't want this, but this isn't for her. It's for me." he whispered, his voice barely audible over the wind.

Isaac felt a sudden heart wrenching pain for this man. He was clearly conflicted within himself.

"Ok. I'll let him go. But you promise that you'll make him atone for what he's done?" the assassin said, his gaze catching Isaac's and meeting a fierce nod. He threw Selmen forward now, and Rai moved to catch the salarian.

"You'll need to come back with us." Isaac yelled, feeling the cold air whip against his skin.

The assassin smiled now, holding up a small button in his hand.

"You idiots are even more stupid than they said you were."

He pressed the button that he held in his hands, and there was a bright flash of light, and then a massive wave of heat. After that, Isaac felt himself fade into the black sea of unconsciousness.

* * *

When he awoke, he sat up with that familiar sudden burst of panic in his heart.

Bright white lights, metal walls. . .

Med Bay?

He glanced around him. Selmen lay next to him, breathing easily in his sleep. Rai and X were standing near the other side of the bay, talking quietly. Callum lay on the other side from Isaac, also sleeping.

"So. . .we made it then?" Isaac found himself saying. This startled Rai and X into action.

"Dammit, Isaac. You really need to learn to stop getting yourself nearly killed. Miranda was worried sick when we dragged you back onto the ship." Rai said, but X only smiled, leaning against the corner, folding his arms across his chest.

Isaac did a few preliminary stretches to assess his damages, and decided he still had control at least. That was good enough for him.

"You're one tough son of a bitch, that's for sure." X said in his casual tone.

Isaac only laughed.

"Well, I guess I have a habit of nearly getting myself killed. Comes with the job."

X chuckled at this, but Rai only sighed.

"At any rate, Selmen and Callum are stable. They should be ready to go in a few hours. Miranda probably wants to see you, though."

Isaac nodded at this, pulling himself off of the medical bed and then walking out of the Med Bay.

"Let's not keep her waiting then." he whispered to himself, smiling as he headed for Miranda's office.


	28. Date

_A/N -_

_And the next chapter in this fine story. Miranda may seem very out of character in this story, but you have to take a moment to stop and think how much she's changed since signing on with Cerberus. And also consider the fact that she did have one dashing mercenary to change her even more.  
_

* * *

He stood against the door frame again, leaning with his arms folded in his casual way, watching her work.

She worked furiously, and he thought he could see a fraction of concern and worry, if only for a moment.

He stepped into the office now, and she was almost instantaneously jarred from her work.

"You bastard." was the first thing that came out of her mouth, and he only smiled.

She was smiling too when he pulled her into an embrace. They stood locked in each others arms for a bit before finally pulling away.

"Our new guests should help bolster the team. We have one hell of a crew now, thanks to you Miri." he said, with some waver to his voice.

She only sighed. "I think so too, but I haven't been able to trace any leads for the main Cerberus headquarters. We're flying blind until I can find us something."

"What about the Resistance?" Isaac asked, the ongoing war with Cerberus suddenly back in his mind.

She shook her head, a pained expression crossing her face. "We were duped by Aaron so that they could eliminate the rest of whatever resistance there was. If there are any of them left, we'll have no chance of finding them now."

He only nodded at this - it was an expected outcome, but he still had to make sure if it was the truth or not.

"So, what do we do in the meantime then?"

She shrugged, pulling up a message signed with Shepard's signature on her terminal.

"The Captain is giving us all shore leave while we're docked at the Citadel. We're all working on finding the main base still, though. So," she sat back, letting out another heavy sigh, "It's not really shore leave for me. Besides, I'd have nothing to do anyway."

A small smile spread across his face, and she caught the motion.

"What?"

"You have something to do. Come on." he said, ushering her out of the chair now. She struggled a bit, but stood finally.

"Hey-" she began, but the sudden impact of it hit her then, "You're taking me on a date?"

He shrugged, remembering his little contest with X. "X and I had a game. I lost, so I have to take you on a date."

Rage would have boiled within her eyes, but she couldn't bring herself to be mad at the man she loved, so she only sighed once more, massaging her head now.

"Give me a bit to get ready then. I'll meet you at the Docks."

Satisfied with how smoothly the conversation had gone, he turned and promptly left.

* * *

X stood in the corner, leaning against the wall in the casual way that both he and Isaac did.

"She's not coming, is she?" he heard X say, but Isaac waved a hand dismissively.

"She told me she'd meet me here. Miri wouldn't stand me up."

"Oh?" X laughed, removing himself from the corner, "And if she does?-" he would have gone on, but Miranda walked through the door from the Normandy's airlock now, wearing that stunning red dress that she had worn so many times before to captivate Isaac. She looked. . . Perfect.

"Does what?" she asked casually, noticing the near open mouthed and gazing Isaac, and grinning, turning to X.

"He's coming with?"

Isaac shook the expression from his face, and then sighed, raising a hand to his head.

"X is here to see the bet out, nothing more."

She only smiled at this, and then threaded her arm through Isaac's. She was acting far too casual not to be getting at something.

"Err. . .Miri, you're-" he began, but she cut him off.

"Touching you? Yes, I know. I'm giving you a chance to woo me. So lets get going then."

He was shocked by her sudden change of personality, but he didn't know what to say. Sure, he liked her the new way, even wanted her like this, but it had been a little. . .sudden.

_Maybe she's finally ready._

She smiled once more at him, and he shot an icy glare at X, who only laughed, still clad in his normal garments.

"Well, I had planned on a more. . .romantic evening, but," he glanced at X, and then whispered to her now, "We'll ditch him in the bar and then find some place quiet for the evening."

She shimmied the dress in that way that made him feel like there was nothing solid beneath his feet, and then smirked, whispering back. "That sounds so devious. . .but I like it."

He glanced once more over at X, who stood, waiting for them to lead. He knew just the place to lose X in too.

* * *

_Echo_ was exactly how he remembered it from his last visit. Maybe with an extra additive here or there, but the general feel of the place was the same.

It was crowded tonight, which only served to make things much easier for Isaac. All they had to do was get X separated from them. . .

They picked a table somewhere in the middle of the throng, and Isaac stood to go get them their drinks.

"So, Isaac and you, huh?" X said, his voice considerably louder to hear over the noise and music of the crowd.

Miranda only sighed, turning to look at him with a casual glance. He clearly wasn't afflicted by her charms. Or, if he was, he was doing a damn well job of hiding it.

"Yes. We were something once." she mused, looking at a smiling Isaac who was returning to their table with some drinks, "And my guess is Mr. Black plans to right that again tonight."

X cocked an eyebrow at this, but she only shot a tongue at him. She was acting far too happy. . .was she even grinning at him? Good god, she looked like an innocent schoolgirl fawning over her new boyfriend. It made him somewhat sick.

Isaac returned now, handing them whatever he had managed to dig up. There were benefits to being a bar's owner.

"What?" he asked, noticing the glance they were both sharing.

"Nothing. X here was just telling me how there was a woman in his life once." Miranda began, but X laughed.

"Hah! Yeah, she was a real perfect one, always wore this tight catsuit, and thought she was some kind of perfect being. There was this guy that she was just. . ." he glanced at Isaac, still grinning, "head over heels for, but they played this game of always hiding it."

That had crossed the line. They may have been fighting another battle, but this meant war.

"Oh yeah, and tell us about your woman, X." Isaac found himself saying, "Surely there must have been someone that you were with."

X raised his hands now, shaking his head. "Nope. Not one. At least, not that I can remember."

Miranda cocked an eyebrow at this.

"You mean to say that you've never done _it_?"

X shared a sudden glance with Isaac, who joined in on the fun.

"You've never done the deed?" he whispered, a feigned shock expression across his face. X glanced from one to the other, and a sudden look of worry spread across his face.

"What deed?" he managed to choke out, but Isaac and Miranda weren't done yet.

"He hasn't! Never! Not once!" Isaac said, laughing now. Miranda added the last and final touch to it all.

"You mean that you're still a virgin, X? And how old are you?"

That worried look spread across X's face, and he glanced around them, meeting the gazes of Isaac and Miranda once more.

"Holy shit. You're talking about _that_." he breathed.

Isaac nodded.

"You've never done it, have you?"

X found himself shaking his head, and then stood.

"You know what, I'm going to fix that. Just. . .stop staring at me like that. God!" he turned quickly and walked off into the crowd, and Isaac turned back to Miranda, laughing heartily.

"That was too much fun." he said, taking another drink.

"Agreed. We need to do this more often." she said, sitting back now, watching a very panicked X walk through the crowds, searching for a suitable target.

"Now that we're alone. . ." he began, but she turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow. He became suddenly aware of his increased heart rate.

"Oh? Please, do go on, Mr. Black. I'm having so much fun."

His breath hitched in his throat as he tried to choke out the next few words. God, was it always this hard to ask somebody about that?

"I-" he started, pausing to swallow the dry lump in his throat. "We should. . ." he started again, but found himself with serious foot in mouth syndrome.

"You what, Mr. Black?" she asked, her voice still casual and humorous.

"Uhhh. . ." he trailed off, glancing around them, finally finding the courage to stand without falling over.

"It's a little too loud here. Maybe we should find somewhere more. . .private."

She was still smirking as she stood and threaded her arm through his again.

"Lead the way." was all she whispered to him, but that one sentence was enough to make him feel like his head was spinning once more. Like those nights so long ago. And here it was like he was reliving it.

Shaking himself back into reality, he gently led her out of the bar and back to his own apartment on the Citadel. It was high time to embrace those memories again.


	29. Discovery

_A/N -_

_And so begins the final climb to the end of this story. By the end of today, I hope to have finished all of the chapters for this. I know some of you are looking forward to it, but sit tight. There's still more to come for this story yet._

* * *

He couldn't remember the last time he had slept so well.

He hadn't even awoken in a cold sweat or had any nightmares. Perhaps that had been in part thanks to Miranda, who had slept easily next to him.

When they had awoke, Isaac had at least four or five messages waiting for him, and she was reluctant to see him go so soon. He had simply said something like 'duty calls.' and then left.

He had finally managed to get over the mess of sorting out his love life and now Rai was thrusting this into his attention.

X, Isaac, and Rai all stood in the Med Bay, staring at Aaron's covered corpse.

"Doctor Chakwas was right. There's a strange indent within the brain. . ." Rai scanned the body once more, bringing up the cranial scans he had taken earlier.

"This area, the one highlighted in red?" X asked, pointing. Rai nodded. Indeed, there was a small area, roughly the size and shape of a shard of metal or glass that was pushed into the brain.

"So, what does this tell us?" Isaac asked, his hand scratching his chin, his thoughts elsewhere.

"We're working to figure it out, but it would be impossible for that to be there without some long term contact." Rai replied, still focusing on the scans.

"At any rate, I don't want to worry you. Just alerting you of this in case we find out something later."

Isaac nodded, and turned to X.

"So, you didn't find someone, huh?" he teased. X only gave him a cold stare, which quickly warmed into a small grin.

"Nah. But I heard you had quite the night."

Isaac decided it would be best to leave before his face became too red.

* * *

"It's good to see you alive and breathing, Callum." Isaac said, stepping into the lounge where his old friend stood leaning against the wall.

"Yes, well. . .that was in thanks to your crew. You're lucky to have such a powerful biotic. X tells me that without his barrier, we would have been blown to pieces." Callum said, removing himself from the wall and clasping hands firmly with Isaac.

"I wouldn't trust him on his full story. He likes to over exaggerate things a bit. Especially if it involves saving our asses." Isaac replied, taking a seat on one of the couches now.

"So, you never answered me. What brought you to the Citadel?" Isaac asked, watching the man take a seat across from him.

"I told you, didn't I? Someone pinged our group that they might try to take Selmen out. I was stationed there to protect him. Though it looks like you did more of that then I did."

Isaac shrugged. X had really done a lot of it, now that he looked back on it.

"We're a powerful team. When you put us -Rai, X, and I- together, we can pull off all kinds of crazy moves." Isaac found himself saying. Instead of complimenting one person, he had effectively considered them all as something more powerful. Callum cocked an eyebrow at this.

"Team, huh? You never worked with a team before, Isaac."

He shrugged again, glancing around. "Being back in the Alliance has changed me, I guess."

Callum leaned forward, his voice barely a whisper. "I haven't forgotten what you did for me back in those days. You and I will be friends to the very last."

It was Isaac's turn to tease him now.

"Oh? You were never big on teams either."

Callum only chuckled at this, but regained his serious posture after a moment.

"But seriously, Isaac. . .I'm with you to the end of things. And Selmen agrees too. Not just because you saved his life, either. He's already helping with tech deciphering."

Isaac nodded at this. He had expected as much. Despite a very brief conversation with the salarian, he could tell he was a good person, with good intentions.

"That assassin mentioned something about atoning. Do you have any idea what he was talking about?" Isaac asked suddenly.

Callum shrugged at this. "He could mean anything. It could have been a bluff, too. If you're asking if Selmen has told me anything, no. But I trust the salarian, if that counts."

Isaac nodded curtly. He would have to take Callum's word for it.

"I think I'm going to have a chat with him myself, if that's alright."

Callum nodded, standing with Isaac. Isaac turned to leave, but Callum caught him before he went.

"We have a hell of a lot of catching up to do. Next time, I'm, buying."

Isaac smiled, leaving his old friend alone once more.

* * *

Selmen had taken up residence on the Engineering deck, where his skills and talents would be most useful to the crew.

"Mr. Black. A pleasure. What can I do for you?" he spoke, focusing more on his work then the man leaning against the wall a little ways across the room.

"I just wanted to chat is all. How are you fitting in?"

Selmen took a moment to wipe his arm across his forehead, and then turned to Isaac.

"Feel good. Better then before."

He turned back to his work, and Isaac only chuckled. Salarians were amusing indeed.

"You're working hard already. Callum tells me you were inclined to help asap."

Selmen nodded a few times, still working.

"Yes. You have an. . .interesting goal. I was. . .dabbling in some things I shouldn't have been." he sighed heavily, turning to Isaac.

"Cerberus got wind of me. Tried to take me out. Lucky you were there."

Isaac nodded, and decided for now that he wouldn't push this conversation. He didn't need to, for it seemed Selmen wanted to talk.

"That assassin. . .he meant nothing. It was a bluff, but I was doing some 'wrong' things. I'm working for a better cause now, thanks to you."

"You were doing some 'wrong' things?" Isaac asked, deciding to push it a bit.

Selmen nodded. "Yes. Dabbled in some affairs I shouldn't have been. Paid for it now, but I've given up on those ways. Now, I work for you and your Captain."

Isaac could understand how the salarian must have felt. He clearly had wanted to change his ways, so they were willing to accept him.

"That's good to hear. You're tech skills are invaluable to us."

Selmen seemed to blush at this, and turned back to his work.

"Will help however I can. Whenever I can."

Isaac nodded once more and decided that this was a concluded conversation.

* * *

"It's like this. . ." X began, crossing the room once more.

"I'm remembering things. You know that." he paused for a breath before forging on. "All kinds of things. Places. Flashes. Memories. People." he paced faster now. "But never anything like this. I can understand these usually. . ._this_ is just a number sequence."

X stopped, turning to look at him and Miranda now.

"I don't get it. What does it mean? Why can I only see it when I'm sleeping? I can't even recall it now. But it's always there, always just. . .floating around in there."

Miranda seemed lost in thought, and Isaac found himself thinking too. He hadn't heard of anything like this before.

"It's just a number sequence?" Miranda spoke, and X nodded.

"But you can't remember it now?" Isaac asked, which X also nodded to.

"Maybe it was something Cerberus did to you?" he said, and X only shook his head, pacing the room again.

"No, no no. It's just. . .agh. AGH. It's like a bug that gets in your skin and just crawls around and you can't get it out no matter how hard you try to."

Miranda seemed to be thinking again, so Isaac spoke.

"So. . .you can only see this number sequence when you're not thinking about it?"

X nodded, then shook his head. "Yes. . .no. . .I don't know, dammit."

"It's simple. They've implanted him with something more than just the implant." Miranda said, her voice ringing out over the group.

"What?" X breathed, turning to her.

"Cerberus techniques. They hide vital information behind numerous tactics. This is one of them. The reason he can't recall the number sequence is because it's directly implanted into his subconsciousness. Therefore he knows the sequence, but can't recall it directly."

"Makes sense enough I guess, but what the hell is behind that sequence then?" Isaac asked, glancing at a more than worried X.

Miranda shrugged, a pained expression falling across her face. "There's no way to tell unless we extract the sequence ourselves. If we find what it's for, we could possibly discover what they were trying to hide. But. . ." she glanced at X, and then to Isaac once more.

"Extracting it can be a painful process."

X looked calm, despite the news. He paced a bit more before turning back to Isaac.

"We're doing it. If it helps us bring down those shitheads, I'll do anything."

"X? You may not even survive the process." Miranda said, concern in her voice.

X still looked calm, somehow, and Isaac was glad to see he had changed so much since they had first met.

"I don't care if I die anymore. If it helps to bring Cerberus down, we're doing it."

"X, this is insanity! I didn't save you all those times so that-" Isaac began but he was cut off by X, who was now flaring his biotics.

"Not your call! This is mine this time, and I say we're doing it!"

Miranda glanced at the two of them once more, before leaving quietly. Isaac left sometime after, not sure what to say anymore. A tactical retreat seemed like the only likely option.


End file.
